ANATOMY
MELANCHOLY
WHAT IT IS, WITH ALL THE
KINDS CAUSES, SYMPTOMES, PROGNOSTICS,
SEVERAL CURES OF IT.
IN THREE PARTITIONS.
WITH THEIR SEVERAL
SECTIONS, MEMBERS, & SUBSE CTIONS,
PHILOSOPHICALLY, MEDICINALLY, HISTORICALLY OPENED AND CUT UP.
BY
DEMOCRITUS JUNIOR.
A SATYRICAL PREFACE CONDUCING TO THE FOLLOWING DISCOURSE.
A NEW EDITION.
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED
THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
VOL. I.
LONDON :
PRINTED FOR THOMAS M'LEAN, HAYMARKET; R. GRIFFIN & CO.
GLASGOW; AND J. CUMMING, DUBLIN.
1826.
36761
HONORATISSIMO DOMINO,
NON M1NVS VIRTVTE SVA,
QUASI GENERIS
SPLENDORE,
ILLVSTRISSIMO,
GEORGIO BERKLEIO
MILTI DE BALNEO,
BARONI DE BERKLEY,
Moubrey, Segravc,
D. DE BRUSE,
DOMINO SVO MULTIS NOMINIBUS OBSERVANDO,
HANC SUAM
MELANCHOLIA
Democritus Junior ad Librum suum.
VADE liber, qualis, non ausim dieere, fcelix,
Te nisi foelicem fecerit alma dies,
V ade tamen quocunque lubet, quascunque per eras,
Et Genium Domini fae imitere tui.
I blandas inter Charites, mystamque saluta
Musarum quemvis, si tibi lector erit.
Rura colas, urbem, subeasve palatia regum,
Submisse, placide, te sine dente geras.
Nobilis, aut si quis te forte inspexerit heros,
Da te morigerum, perlegat usque lubet.
Est quod Nobilitas, est quod desideret heros,
Gratior hsec forsan charta placere potest.
Si quis morosus Cato, tetricusque Senator
Hunc etiam librum forte videre velit,
Sive magistratus, turn te reverenter habeto ;
Sed nullus ; muscas non capiunt aquiLse.
Non vacat his tempus fugitivum impendere nugis,
Nec tales cupio ; par mihi lector erit.
Si matrona gravis casu diverterit istuc,
Illustris domina, aut te Comitissa legat :
Est quod displieeat, placeat quod forsitan illis,
Ingerere his noli te modo, pande tamen.
At si virgo tuas dignabitur inclyta chartas
Tangere, sive schedis heereat ilia tuis :
Da modo te facilem, et qusedam folia esse memento
Conveniant oculis quae magis apta suis.
Si generosa ancilla tuos ant alma puella
Visura est ludos, annue, pande lubens.
Die, Utinam nunc ipse meus* (nam diligit istas)
In prsesens esset conspiciendus herns.
Ignotus notusve mihi de gente togata
Sive aget in ludis, pulpita sive colet,
Sive in Lycaeo, et nugas evolverit istas.
Si quasdam mendas viderit inspiciens,
Da veniam auctori, dices ; nam plurima vellet
Expungi, quse jam displicuisse sciat.
Sive Melancholicus quisquam, seu hlandus Amator,
Aulicus aut Civis, seu bene comptus Eques
Hue appellat, age et tuto te crede legenti,
Multa istic forsan non male nata leget.
Quod fugiat, caveat, quodque amplexabitur, ista
Pagina fortassis promere multa potest.
* Hsec comice dicta, cave ne male capias.
Democritus Junior ad Librum suum.
At si quis Medicus coram te sistet, amice
Fac circumspecte, et te sine labe geras :
Inveniet namque ipse meis quoque plurima scriptis.
Non leve subsidium quse sibi forsan erunt.
Si quis Causidicus chartas impingat in istas,
Nil mihi vobiseum, pessima turba vale :
Sit nisi vir bonus, et juris sine fraude. peritus ; .
Turn legat, et forsan doetior inde siet.
Si quis cordatus, facilis, lectorque benignus
Hue oculos vertat, quse velit ipse legat ;
Candidus ignoscet, metuas nil, pande libenter,
OfFensus mendis non erit ille tuis,
Laudabit nonnulla, Venit si Rhetor ineptus,
Limata et tersa, et qui bene cocta petit,
Claude citus librum ; nulla hcic nisi ferrea verba,
Offendent stomachum quse minus apta suum.
At si quis non eximius de plebe poeta,
Annue ; namque istic plurima. ficta leget.
Nos sumus e numero, nullus mihi spirat Apollo,
Grandiloquus Vates quilibet esse nequit.
Si Criticus Lector, tumidus Censorque.molestus,
Zoilus et Momus, si rabiosa cohors :
Ringe, freme, et noli tunv pandere, turba malignis
Si oecurrat sannis invidiosa suis :
Fac fiigias ; si nulla tibi sit copia eundi,
Contemnes tacite scommata quseque feres.
Frendeat, allatret, vacuas gannitibus auras
Impleat, haud cures ; his placuisse nefas.
Verum age si forsan divertat purior hospes,
Cuique sales, ludi, displiceantque joci,
Objiciatque tibi sordes, lascivaque : dices,
Lasciva est Domino et Musa jocosa tuo,
Nec lasciva tamen, si pensitet omne ; sed esto ;
Sit lasciva licet pagina, vita, proba pst.
Barbarus, indoctusque rudis! spectator in istam
Si messem intrudat, fuste fugabis eum :
Fungum pelle procul (jubeo); nam quid mihi fungo
Conveniunt stomacho non minus ista suo.
Sed nec pelle tamen; Iseto omnes accipe vultu,
Quos, quas, vel, quales, inde. vel unde viros.
Gratus erit quicunque venit, gratissimus hospes
Quisquis erit, facilis difficilisque mihi.
Nam si culparit, queedam culpasse juvabit.
Culpando faciet me meliora sequi.
. Sed si laudarit, neque laudibus efferar ullis,
Sit satis hisce malis ppposuisse bonum.
Haec sunt quse nostro placuLt mandare lihello,
Et quse dimittens diseerejussit Herus.
The Author’s Abstract of Melancholy, AikxoyZ-
WHEN I go musing all alone,
Thinking of divers things fore¬
known.
When I build castles in the ayr,
V oid of sorrow and void of feare.
Pleasing myself with phantasms
sweet,
Methinks the time runs very fleet.
All my joys to this are folly.
Naught so sweet as melancholy.
When I lie waking all alone,
Recounting what I have ill done,
My thoughts on me then tyrannize,
Fear and sorrow me surprise.
Whether I tarry still or go,
Methinks the time moves very slow.
All my griefs to this are jolly,
Naught so sad as melancholy.
When to myself I act and smile,
With pleasing thoughts the time
beguile.
By a brook side or wood so green,
Unheard, uns ughtfor, or unseen,
A thousand pleasures do me bless,
And crown my soule with happiness.
All my joyes besides are folly, I
None so sweet as melancholy. '
When I lie, sit, or walk alone,
1^ sigh, I grieve, making great
mone,
In a dark grove, or irksome den,
With discontents and Furies then,
A thousand miseries at once
Mine heavy heart and soule en¬
sconce.
All my griefs to this are jolly,
None so sour as melancholy.
Me thinks 1 hear, me thinks I see.
Sweet music, wondrous melodie,
Towns, palaces, and cities fine ;
Here now, then there ; the world is
mine.
Rare beauties, gallant ladies shine.
What e’er is lovely or divine.
All other joyes^to this are folly,
None so sweet as melancholy.
M ethinks 1 hear, methinks I see
Ghosts, goblins, fiends ; my phan-
tasie
Presents a thousand ugly shapes.
Headless bears, black men, and
apes.
Doleful outcries, and fearful sights,
My sad and dismall soule aft'rights.
* All my griefs to this are jolly.
None so damn’d as melancholy.
Me thinks I court, me thinks I kiss.
Me thinks I now embrace my mis-
triss.
O blessed dayes, O sweet content,
i In paradise my time is spent,
i Such thoughts may still my fancy
| move,
So may I ever be in love.
All my joyes to this are folly,
Naught so sweet as melancholy.
When I recount loves many frights,
My sighs and tears, my waking
nights.
My jealous fits ; O mine hard fate
I now repent, but’tis too late.
No torment is so bad as love,
So bitter to my soule can prove.
All my griefs to this are jolly.
Naught so harsh as melancholy.
Friends and companions get you
gone,
’Tis my desire to be alone ;
Ne’er well but when my thoughts
and I
Do domineer in privacie.
No gernin, no treasure like to this,
’Tis my delight, my crown, my bliss.
All my joyes to this are folly,
Naught so sweet as melancholy.
’Tis my sole plague to be alone,
I am a beast, anaionster grown,
I will no light nor company,
I finde it now my misery.
The scean is turn’d, my jojrns are
gone,?
Feare,discontent,and sorrows come.
All my griefs to this are jolly,
Naught so fierce as melancholy.
I’ll not change life with any King,
I ravisht am ; can the world bring
More joy, then still to laughandsmile,
In pleasant toyes time to beguile ?
Do not, 0 do not trouble me,
So sweet content I feel and see.
All my joyes to this are folly.
None so divine as melancholy.
I’ll ehange my state with any
wretch
Thou canst from gaole or dunghill
fetch :
My pain’s past cure, another hell,
I may not in this torment dwell.
Now desperate I hate my life.
Lend me a halter or a knife ;
All my griefs to this are jolly,
Naught so damn’d as melancholy.
The A rgument oj
TEN distinct Squares here seen
apart.
Are joyn’d in one by Cutter’s art.
1. Old Democritus under a tree.
Sits on a stone with boojc on knee;
About him hang there many fea¬
tures
Of cats, dogs, and suchlikecreatures,
Of which he makes anatomy,
The seat of black choler to see.
Over his head appears the skie,
And Saturn Lord of melancholy.
2. To the left a landscape of “Jea-
lousie.
Presents itself unto thine eye,
A kingfisher, a swan, an hern,
Two fighting cocks you may discern,
Two roaring bulls each other hie,
ToaSsauIt concerning venery.
Symboles are these; I say no more,
Conceive the rest by that’s afore.
3. The next of solitariness,
A portraiture doth well express,
By sleeping dog, cat; buck and do.
Hares, conies in the desart go :
Bats, ow'ls the shady bowers over
In melancholy darkness hover..
Markw ell: If the not as’t should be
Blame the bad Cutter, and not me.
4. Ith’ under column there doth
stand
Inamorato with folded hand ;
Down hangs his head, terse and
polite,
Some dittie sure he doth indite.
His lute and books about him lie,
As symptomes of his vanity.
If this do not enough disclose.
To paint him, take thyself by th’
nose.
5. Hypochondriacus leans on his arm
Windein his side doth him much
harm,
And troubles him full sore, God
knows,
Much pain he hath and many woes.
About him pots and glasses lie,
Newly brought from’s Apothecary.
This Saturn’s aspects signifie,
N ou see them portrait in the skie.
the Frontispiece.
6. Beneath them kneeling on his
knee,'
A superstitious man you see ;
He fasts, prays, on his idol fixt.
Tormented hope and feare betwixt :
For hell perhaps he takesmore pain,
Then thou dost heaven itself to gain,
Alas poor soule, I pitie thee,
What stars incline thee so to be ?
7. But see the madmen rage down -
right
With furious looks, a ghastly sight!
Naked in chains bound doth he lie
And roars amain he knows not why!
Observe him ; for as in a glass,
Thine angry portraiture it was. -
His picture keep still in thy pre¬
sence ;
Twixt him and thee there’s no dif¬
ference.
8. 9. Borage and hellebor fill two
scenes, ..
Sovereign plants to purge the veins
Of melancholy, and chear the heart
Of those black fumes which make it
smart;
To clear the brain of misty fogs,
Which dull our senses, and soule
clogs.
The best medicine that ere God
made
For this malady, if well assaid.
10. Now last of all to fill a place,
Presented is the Author’s face ;
And in that habit which he wears,
His image to the world appears,
His minde no art can well express,
That by his writings you may guess.
It was not pride, nor yet vain glory,
(Though others do it commonly)
Made him do this: if you must
know.
The Printer would needs have it so.
Then do not frowne or seoffe at it,
Deride not, nor detract a whit,
For surely as thou dost by him,
He will do the Same again. ,
Then look upon’t, behold and; see,
As thou lik’st it, so it likes thee.
And I for it will stand in view,
Thine to command, Reader, adieu.
DEMOCRITUS JUNIOR
TO THE READER.
GENTLE reader, I presume thou wilt be very inquisitive
to know what antick or personate actor this is, that so in¬
solently intrudes, upon this common theatre, to the worlds
view, arrogating- another mans name, whence he is, why he
doth it, and what he hath to say. Although, a as he said,
Primum, si noluero , non respondebo : guis coaeturus est ? (I
am a free man boro, and may chuse whether I will tell : who
can compel me ?) if I be urged, I will as readily reply as that
Egyptian in b Plutarch, when a curious fellow would needs
know what he had in his basket, Quurn vides velatam , quid
inquiris in rent absconditam ? It was therefore covered, be¬
cause he should not know what was in it. Seek not after that
which is hid: if the contents please thee, c and be for thy
use, suppose the man in the moon, or whom thou wilt, to be the
author : 1 would not willingly be known. Yet, in some sort
to give thee satisfaction, which is more than I need, I will
shew a reason, both of this usurped name, title, and subject.
And first of the name of Democritus ; lest any man, by reason
of it, should be deceived, expecting a pasquil, a satyre, some
ridiculous treatise (as I myself should have done,) some pro¬
digious tenent, or paradox of the earths motion, of infinite
worlds, in infinito vacuo, ex fortuita atomorum collisione, in an
infinite waste, so caused by an accidental collision of motes in
thesun, all which Democritus held, Epicurus and their master
Leucippus of old maintained, and are lately revived by Coper¬
nicus, Brunus, and some others. Besides, it hath been always
a Seneca, in Ludo in mortem Claadii Csesaris. b Lib. de Cnriositate. __
c Modo haec tibi ustii sint, qaemvis auctorem fingito. W ecker.
VOL. I. B
2
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
an ordinary custom, as dGellius observes, for later writers and
impostors, to broach many absurd and insolent fictions , under
the name ofiso noble a philosopher as Democritus, to get them¬
selves credit, and by that means the more to be respected, as ar¬
tificers usually do, novo quimarmori ascribunt Praxitelem suo.
5Tis not so with, me,
e Non hie Centauros, non Gorgonas, Harpyiasque,
Invenies'; hominem pagina nostra^apit.
No Centaurs here, or Gorgons, look to find :
My subject is of man and humane, kind.
Thou thy self art the subject of my discourse.
f' "Quid quid agunt homines, votum, timor, ira, voluptas,
Guadia, discursus, nostri farrago libelli.
Whate’er men do, vows, fears, in ire, in sport,
Joys, wandrings, are the summ of my report.
My intent is no otherwise to use his name, than Mercuries
Gallobelgicus, Mercurius Britannicus, use the name of Mer-
curie,'S Democritus Christianas, &c. although there be some
other circumstances for which I have masked myself under
this visard, and some peculiar respects, which 1 cannot so well
express, until I have set down a brief character of this our
Democritus, what he was, with an epitome of his life.
Democritus, as he is described by 11 Hippocrates, and 1 Laer¬
tius, was a little wearish old man, very melanchoiy by nature,
averse from company in bis later dayes, * and much given to
solitariness, a famous philosopher in his age, 1 cosevous with
Socrates, wholly addicted to his studies at the last, and to a
private life writ many excellent works, a great divine, ac¬
cording to the divinity of those times, an expert physician, a
politician, ah excellent mathematician, as m Diacosmus and
the rest of his works do witness. He was much delighted with
the studies of husbandry, saith 111 Columella; and often I find
him cited by 0 Constantinus and others treating of thatsubject.
He knew the natures, differences of all beasts, plants, fishes,
birds; and, as some say, could p understand the tunes and
voices of them. In a word, he was omnifariam doctus, a gene- -
ral scholar, a great student ; and, to the intent he might better
contemplate, ^ I find it related by some, that he put out his
d Lib. 10. c. 12. Multa a male feriaiis in Democriti nomine commenta data,
nobiliiatis, auctoritatisque ejus perfogio ntentibus. e Martialis, lib. 10.
epigr. 14. fJuy. Sat 1. sAuth. Pet. Besseo, edit Colonise 1616.
h-Hip. Epist. Damaget » Laert. lib. 9. k Hortulo sibi cellulam
seligens, ubique seipsum includens, vixit solitarius. 1 Eloruit Olympiade.
80 ; 700 annis post Trojam. mDiacos. qned cunctis operibus facile
excellit. Laert. n Col. lib. 1. c. 1. •' o Const, lib. de agric. passim.
P Volucrum voces et lingua's intelligere se dicit Abderitanus, Ep. Hip. <1 Sabellicus,
exempt lib. 10. Oculis se privavit, ut melius contemplgtioni operam daret, sublimi
vir ingenio, profundae cogitationis, &c. .
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
3
eyes, and was in his old age voluntarily blind, yet saw more
than all Greece besides, and rwrit of every subject: Ni hil in
toto opificio natures, de quo non seripsit : a man of an ex¬
cellent wit, profound conceit ; and, to attain knowledge the
better inhis younger years, he travelled to Egypt and3 At hens,
to confer with learned men, t admired of some, despised of
others. After a wandring life, he setled at Abdera, a town
in Thrace, and was sent for thither to be their law-maker,
recorder, or town-clerk, as some will ; or as others, he was
there bred and born. Howsoever it was, there he lived at last
in a garden in the suburbs, wholly betaking himself to his
studies and a private life, u saving that sometimes he would
walk down to the haven, x and laugh heartily at such variety
of ridiculous objects , which there he saw. Such a one was
Democritus.
But, in the mean time, how doth this concern me, or upon
what reference do I usurp his habit ? I confess, indeed, that
to compare my self unto him for ought I have yet said, ■were
both impudency and arrogancy. I do not presume to make-
any parallel. Antistat mihi millibus trecentis : y parvus sum ;
nullus sum ; altum nec spiro, nec spero. Yet thus much I
will say of my self, and that I hope without all suspicion of
pride, or self-conceit, I have lived a silent, sedentary, solitary,
private life, mihi et Musis, in the university, as long almost as
Xenocrates in Athens, ad senectam fere, to learn wisdom as
he did, penned up most part in my study : for 1 have, been
brought up a student in the most flourishing college of Eu¬
rope, 2 augustissimo collegio , and can brag with * Jovius, al¬
most, in ea luce domicilii Vaticani , totius orbis celeberrimi, per
37 annos multa opportunaque didici ; for thirty years I have
continued (having the use of as g-ood '“libraries as ever he had)
a scholar, and would be therefore loth, either, by living as a
drone, to be an unprofitable or unworthy member of so
learned and noble a society, er to write that which should he
any way dishonourable to such a royal and ample foundation.
Something 1 have done : though by my profession a divine,
yet turbine raptus ingenii , as b he said, out of a running
wit, an un constant, unsettled mind, I had a great desire (not
able to attain to a superficial skill in any) to have some smat¬
tering in all, to be aliquis in omnibus , nullus in singulis ;
’■Natnralia, moralia, mathematica, liberates disciplinas, artiumque omnium peri-
tiam, callebat. 3 Yeni A then as ; et nemo me novit 5 Idemcontemptui
et admirationi babitus. u Solebat ad portam ambulare, et inde, &c. Hip. Ep.
Dameg. x Perpetuo risu pulmonem agitare solebat Democritus. Jiiv. Sat. 7.
y Non sum dignus praestare matellam. Mart. z Christ Church in Oxford.
* Prsefat. hist. a Keeper of our college library lately revived by Otho Nicolson,
Esquire. b Sealiger. _ _ _
4
DEMOCRITUS TD THE READER.
which c Plato commends, out of him d Lipsius approves and
furthers, as fit to be imprinted in all curious wits , not to be
a slave of one science, or dwell altogether in one subject, as
most do,- but to rove abroad, centum puer arfcium, to have an
oar in every mans boat, to e taste of every dish, and to sip of
every cup; which, saith f Montaigne, was well performed by
Aristotle, and his learned coun trey- man Adrian Turnebus.
This roving' humour (though not with like success) I have
ever had, and, like a ranging spaniel, that barks at every bird
he sees, leaving his game, I have followed all, saving that
which I should, and may justly complain, and truly ,quiubique
est, nusquam est, which s Gcsner did in modesty ; that I have
read many books, but to little purpose, for want of good
method, I have confusedly tumbled over divers authors in our
libraries with small profit, for want of art, order, memory,
judgement. I never travelled but in map or card, in which
my unconfined thoughts have freely expatiated, as having
ever been especially Aelighted with the study of cosmography.
h Saturn was lord of my geniture, culminating, &c. and Mars
principal significator of manners, in partile conjunction with
mine ascendent ; both fortunate in their houses, &c. I am
not poor, I am not rich ; nihil est, nihil deest ; I have little, I
want nothing : all my treasure is in Minerva’s tower. Greater
preferment as I could never get, so am I not in debt for it. I
have a competency (lam Deo ) from my noble and munificent
patrons. Though Hive still a collegiat student, as Democritus
in his garden, and lead amonastique life, ipse mihi theatrum,
sequestred from those tumults and troubles of the world, et
tamquam in specula, positus (‘ as he said,) in some high place
above you all, like Stoicus sapiens, omnia scecula prceterita
prcesentiaque videns, uno velut intuitu, 1 hear and see what is
done abroad, how others k run, ride, turmoil, . and macerate
themselves in court and countrey. Far from thpse wrangling
law-suits, aulce vanitatem,fori ambitionem, ridere mecum soleo:
I laugh at all, 1 only secure, lest my suit go amiss, my ships
perish, corn and cattle miscarry, trade decay, / have no wife,
nor children, good or bad, to provide for ;; a meer spectator
of other mens fortunes and adventures, and how they act
their parts, which me thinks are diversely presented unto
cln Theset. d Phil. Stoic, li. diff. 8. Dogma cupidis et cnriosis ingeniis
imprimendum, ut sit talis qui nulli rei serviat, aut exacte unum aliqnid elaboret, alia
negligens, nt artifices, &c. e Delibare gratum de quocunque cibo, et pitissare
de qnocanque dolio jucnndum. f Essays, lib. 3. _ S Prasfat. bibliothec.
hAmbo fortes- et fortunati. Mars idem magisterii dominns juxta primam Leovitii
regulam. 5 Heinsius. k Calide ambientes, solicite litigantes, aut misere
excidentes, voces, strepitom, contentiones, &c. 1 Cyp. ad Donat. Unice se-
cnrus, ne excidam in foro, aut in mari Indico bonis eluam> de dote Alias, patrimonio
filii non sum solicitus.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
5
me, as from a common theatre or scene. I hear new news
every day : and those ordinary rumours of war, plagues, fires,
inundations, thefts, murders, massacres, meteors, comets,
speetrums, prodigies, apparitions, of towns taken, cities be¬
sieged in France, Germany, Turky, Persia, Poland, &c.
daily musters and preparations, and such like, which these
tempestuous times afford, battles fought, so many men slain,
monomachies, shipwracks, piracies, and sea-fights, peace,
leagues, stratagems, and fresh alarms — a vast confusion of
vows, wishes, actions, edicts, petitions, law-suits, pleas, laws,
proclamations, complaints, grievances — are daily brought to
our ears : new books every day, pamphlets, currantoes, stories,
whole catalogues of volumes of all sorts, new paradoxes,
opinions, schisms, heresies, controversies in philosophy, re¬
ligion, &c. Now come tidings of weddings, maskings, mum¬
meries, entertainments, jubiies, embassies, tilts, and torna-
ments, trophies, triumphs, revels, sports, playes : then again,
as in a new shifted scene, treasons, cheating tricks, robberies,
enormous villanies in all kinds, funerals, burials, death
of princes, new discoveries, expeditions ; now comical, then
tragical matters. To day we hear of new lords and officers
created, to morrow of some great men deposed, and then
again of fresh honours conferred : one is let loose, another
imprisoned : one purchaseth, another breaketh : he thrives,
his neighbour turns bankrupt ; now plenty, then again dearth
and famine ; one runs, another rides, wrangles, laughs, weeps,
&c. Thus 1 daily hear, and such like, both private and pub-
lick newrs. Amidst the gallantry and misery of the world,
jollity, pride, perplexities and cares, simplicity and villany,
subtlety, knavery, candour and integrity, mutually mixt and
offering themselves, I rub on, privus privatus : as I have still
lived, so I now continue statu quo prius, left to a solitary life,
and mine own domestic discontents ; saving that sometimes,
ne quid mentiar , as Diogenes went into the city and Demo¬
critus to the haven, to see fashions, I did for my recreation
now and then walk abroad, look into the world, and could
not chuse but make some little observation, non tam sagax
observator, ac simplex recitator, not, as they did, to scoff or
laugh at all, but with a mixt passion :
m Bilem, ssepe jocum vestri movere tumultus.
1 did sometime laugh and scoff with Lucian, and satyrically
tax with Menippus, lament with Heraclitus, sometimes again
I was Upetulanti splene cachinno, and then again, 0 urere bilis
jecur, I was much moved to see that .abuse-which I could
not amend : in which passion howsoever I may sympathize
“Hor. “Per. °Hor.
6
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
with him or them, ’tis for no such respect I shroud my self
under his name, but either, in an unknown habit, to assume a
little more liberty and freedom of speech, or if you will needs
know, for that reason and only respect which Hippocrates
relates at large in his epistle to Damegetus, wherein he doth
express, how, coming to visit him one day, he found Demo¬
critus in his garden at Abdera, in the suburbs, p under a shady
bower, ^with a book on his knees, busie at his study, some¬
time writing, sometime walking. The subject of lus book was
melancholy and madness : about him iay the carkasses of
many several beasts, newly by him cut up and anatomized;
not that he did contemn Gods creatures, as he told Hippo¬
crates, but to find out the seat of this atra bills, or melancholy,
whence it proceeds, and how it is engendred in mens bodies,
to the intent he might better cure it in himself, by his writings
and observations r teach others how to prevent and avoid it.
Which good intent of his Hippocrates highly commended, De¬
mocritus Junior is therefore bold to imitate, and, because he
left it imperfect, and it is now lost, quasi succeniuriator Demo-
criti, to revive again, prosecute, and finish in this treatise.
You have had a reason of the name. If the title and in-
cription offend your gravity, were it a sufficient justification
to accuse others, I could produce many sober treatises, even
sermons themselves, which in their fronts carry more phantas-
tical names. Howsoever, it is a kind of policy in these dayes,
to prefix a phantastical title, to a book which is to be sold: for
as larks come down to a day-net, many vain readers will tarry
and stand gazing, like silly passengers, at an antipk picture in
a painter’s shop, that will not look at a judicious piece. And
indeed, as s Sealiger observes, nothing more invites a reader
than an argument unlooked for , unthought of, arid sells better
than a scurrile pamphlet, turn maxime cum novitas excitat
palatum. Many men saith, * Gellius, are very conceited
in their inscriptions, and able, (as * Pliny quotes out of Se¬
neca) to make him loyter by the way, that went in haste to
fetch a mid-wife for his daughter , now ready to lye down
For my part, I have honourable u precedents for this I have
done : I will cite one for all, Anthonie Zara Pap. Epise. his
P Secundum mcenia locus erat frondosis populis opacus, vitibusque spoute natis :
tenuis prope aqua defluebat, placide murmurans, ubi sedile et domus Democriti con-
spiciebatur. q lpse composite considebat, super genua volumen habens, et
utrinque alia patentia parata, dissectaque animalia eumulatim strata, quorum viscera
rimabatur. rCum mundus extra se sit, et mente captus sit, et. nesciat se languere,
ut medelam adhibeat. s Sealiger, Ep. ad Patisonem. Nihil magis lectorem invi-
tat quam inopinatum argumentum ; neque vendibilior merx est quam petulans liber.
* Lib. xx. c, 11. Miras sequuntur inscriptionum festivitates. t Praefat. Nat.
Hist. Patri obstetricem parturienti filias accersenti moram injicere possunt. “Ana¬
tomy of Popery. Anatomy of Immortality. Angelas Scalas, Anatomy oP Anti¬
mony, 8£c. ' _
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER. 7
Anatomy of' Wit, in four sections, members, subsections, &c.
to be read in our libraries.
If any man except against the matter or manner of treating
of this my subject, and will demand a reason of it, I can allege
more than one. 1 write of melancholy, by being busie, to
avoid melancholy. There is no greater cause of melancholy
than idleness, no better cure than business, as x Rhasis holds :
and howbeit, stultus labor est ineptiarum, to be busied in toyes
is to small purpose, yet hear that divine Seneca, better aliud
agere quam nihil, better do to no end, than nothing. I writ
therefore, and busied my self in this, playing labour, otiosdque
diligentia ut vitarem torpor em feriandi, with Veetius in Ma-
crobius, atque otiurn in utile verier em negotium;
y — Simul et jueunda et idonea dicere vitae,
Lectorem deleetando simul atque monendo.
To this end I write, like them, saith Lucian, that recite to
trees, and declaim to pillar ss for want of auditors ; as z Pau-
lus iEgineta ingenuously confesseth, not that any thing was
unknown or omitted, but to exercise my self (which course
if some took, I think it would be good for their bodies, and
much better for their souls ;) or peradventure, as others do,
for fame to shew my self ( Scire timm nihil est, nisi te scire hoc
sciat alter.) I might be of Thucydides opinion, a to know a
thing and not to express it, is all one as if he knew it not .
When I first took this task in hand, el, quod ait b ille, im¬
pellent e genio negotium suscepi, this I aimed at, c vel ut
lenirem animum scribendo, to ease my mind by writing, for
I had, gravidum cor, fetum caput, a kind of imposthume in
my head, which I was very desirous to be unladen of, and
could imagine no fitter evacuation than this. Besides, I might
not well refrain ; for, ubi dolor, ihi digitus, one must needs
scratch where it itches. I was not a little offended with this
malady, shall I say my mistris melancholy , my Egeria, or
my malus genius ; and for that cause, as he that is stung
with a scorpion, I would expel, clavum clavo, d comfort one
sorrow with another, idleness with idleness, ut ex viper a
theriacum, make an antidote out of that which was the
prime cause of my disease. Or as he did, of whom e Felix
Plater speaks, that thought he had some of Aristophanes
frogs in his belly, still crying Breed ekex, coax, oop, oop,
and for that cause studied physick seven years, and travelled
* Cont. 1. 4. c. 9. Non est cura melior quam labor. y Hor. 2 Non quod
de novo quid addere, aut a veteribus praetermissum, sed propria exercitationis caussa.
a Qui novit, neqtie id quod sentit exprimit, perinde est ac si nesciret. b Jovius,
Prsef. Hist ^Erasmus. d Otium otio, dolorem dolore, sum s date 3,
* Obserrat. 1. 1.
8
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER,
over most part of Europe, to ease himself ; to do my self good,
I turned over such physicians as our libraries would afford, or
my g private friends impart, and have taken this pains. And
why not ? Cardan professeth he writ his book De consola¬
tions^ after his sons death, to comfort himself ; so did Tully
write of the same subject with like intent after his daughters
departure, if it be his at least, or some impostors put out in
his name, which Lipsius probably suspects. Concerning my
self, I can peradventure affirm with Marius in Sallust, h that
which others hear or read of, I felt and practised my self:
they get their knowledge by hooks, I mine by melancholizing :
experto crede Roberto. Something I can speak out of ex¬
perience, eerumnabilis experientia me docuit ; and with her in
the poet, 1 Hand ignara mali miseris succurrere disco. I
would help others out of a fellow-feeling, and as that vertuous
lady did of old, k being a leper her self , bestow all her portion
to build an hospitalfor lepers, X will spend my time and know¬
ledge, which are my greatest fortunes, for the common good
of all.
Yea, but you will inferr that is 1 actum agere, an unne¬
cessary work, cramhen bis coctam apponere, the same again
and again in other words. To what purpose ? m Nothing is
omitted that may well be said : so thought Lucian in the like
theam. How many excellent physicians have written just
volumes and elaborate tracts of this subject ? no news here :
that which I have is stoln from others ; n dicitque mihi mea
pagina, fur es. If that severe doom of 0 Synesius be true,
it is a greater offence to steal dead mens labours, than their
cloaths, what shall become of most writers ? I hold up my
hand at the bar amongst others, and am guilty of felony in
this kind : habes confitentem reum, I am content to be pressed-
with the rest. ’Tis most true, tenet msanabile multos scri-
bendi cacoethes ; and p there is no end of writing of books, as
the wise man found of old, in this <i scribling age especially,
wherein r the number of books is without number, (as a worthy
man saith) presses be oppressed, and out of an itching humour,
that every man hath to shew himself, 5 desirous of fame and
honour, (scribimus indocti doctique - ■) he will write, no
matter what, and scrape together, it boots not whence.
fM. Joh. Rous, our Protobib. Oxon. Mr. Hopper, Mr. Guthridge, &c. Qu®
illi audire et legere solent, eoram partim vidi egomet, alia gessi : qu® illi literis, ego
jnilitando didici. Nunc vos existimate, facta an dicta pluris sint _ J Dido,
Yirg. k Camden, Ipsa elepbantiasi correpta elephantiasis hospitium constroxit.
i Iliada postHomerum. “ Nihil pr®termissum quod a qnovis dici possit.
» Martialis, ° Magis impiurn mortuornm lucubrationes quam vestes fnrari.
pEccl. ult. <3 Libros eunuebi gignnnt, 'steriles pairiunt. rD. King, pr®fat. lect.
Jonas, the late right reverend lord bishop of London. * Homines famelici gloria
ad osterstationem ej-aditionis undique congerunt. Bochananus.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
9
* Bewitched with this desire of fame, eliam mediis in mor -
bis, to the disparagement of their health, and scarce able to
hold a pen, they must say something, aand get themselves a
name, saith Scaligar, though it be to the downfall and ruine
of many others. To be counted writers, scriptores ut saluten-
tur, to be thought and held Polymathes and Polyhistors,
apud imperitum vulgus ob ventosce nomen artis, to get a paper
kingdom : nulla spe qucestus, sed amplafamce, in this preci¬
pitate, ambitious age, nuncut est sceculum, inter immaturam
eruditionem, ambitiosum et prceceps (’tis x Scaliger’s censure)
and they that are scarce auditors, vix auditores, must be
masters and teachers, before they be capable and fit hearers.
They will rush into all learning togatam, armatam, divine,
humane authors, rake over all indexes and pamphlets for
notes, as our merchants do strange havens for traffick, write
great tomes, cum non sint revera doctioresr sed loquaciores, -
when as they are not thereby better scholars, but greater
praters. They commonly pretend publick good : but, as
Gesner y observes, ’tis pride and vanity that eggs them on ;
no news, or ought worthy of note, but the same in other terms.
Ne feriarentur fortasse typography vel ideo scribendum est
aliquid ut se vixisse testentur. As apothecaries, we make new
mixtures every day, pour out of one vessel into another ; and
as those old Romans rob’d all the cities of the world, to set
out their bad sited Rome, we skim off the cream of other
mens wits, pick the choice flowers of their till’d gardens to
set out our own sterile plots. Castrant alios, ut libros suos,
per se graciles, alieno adipe suffarciant (so * Joviiis inveighs);
they lard their lean books with the fat of others works.
Ineruditi fares, Sj-c. (a fault that every writer finds, as I do
now, and yet faulty themselves) z Trium liter arum homines ,
all thieves ; they pilfer out of old writers to stuff up their new
comments, scrape Ennius dung-hils, and out of a Democritus
pit, as I have done. By which means it comes to pass, b that
not only libraries and shops are full of our putid papers , but
every close-stool andjakes : Scribunt carmina, quae legunt ca-
cantes ; they serve to put under pies, to clap spice in, and
keep roast meat from burning. With us in France, saith
d Scaliger, every man hath liberty to write, but few ability.
e Heretofore learning was graced by judicious scholars, but
* Effascinati etiam Iaudis amore, &c. Justus Baronins. u Ex minis alien®
exisiimationis sibi gradum ad famam struunt. * Exercit.288. y Omnes sibi
famam quserant, et quovis modo in orbem spargi contendunt, ut novae alicujus rei-
habeanter auctores. Prasf. biblioth. _ * Prae£ hist 2 Plautus. a Et De-
mocriti puteo. 'DNon tam referte bibliothecas quam cloaca*. « Et quidquid
chartis amicitur ineptis. dEpist. adPetas. In regno Franciae omnibus scribendi
datur libertas, paucis facultas. e Olim liter® ob homines in pretio, nunc sordent
ob homines. __
w
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
now noble sciences are vilified by base and illiterate scriblers,
that either write for vain-glory, need to get money, or as
parasities to flatter and collogue with some great men : they
put out f burr as, quisquiliasque, ineptiasque. s Among so many
thousand authors you shall scarce find one, by reading of
whom you shall be any whit the better, but rather much worse ,
quibus inficitur potius, quam perfidtur, by which -he is rather
infected, than any way perfected.
— - — — hQui talia legit,
Quid didicit tandem, quid scit, nisi somnia, nugas ?
So that oftentimes it falls out (which Callimachus taxed of
old) a great book is a great mischief. 5 Cardan finds fault
with Frenchmen and Germans, for their scribling to no pur¬
pose: non, inquit, ab edendo deterreo, modo novum aliquia in-
veniant : he doth not bar them to write, so that it be some new
invention of their own; but we weave the same web still, twist
the same rope again and again : or if it be a new invention,
’tis but some bauble or toy which idle fellows write, for as idle -
fellows to read : and who so cannot invent? k He must have
a barren wit , that in this scribling age can forge nothing.
1 Princes shew their armies, rich men vaunt their buildings,
souldiers their manhood, and scholars vent their toyes ; they
must read, they must hear, whether they will or no.
m Et quodcumque semel Chartis ifleverit, omnes
Gestiet a furno redeuntes scire lacuque,
Et pueros et anus- - .
What once is said and writ, all men must know,
Old wives and children as they come and go.
What a company of poets hath this year brought out ! as Pliny
complains to Sosius Senecio. a This April, every day some or
other have recited. What a catalogue of new books all this
year, all this age (I say), have our Frank-furt marts, our do-
mestick marts brought out ! twice a year, ° prof erunt se nova
ingenia et ostentant : we stretch our wits out, and set them to
sale ; magno conaiu nihil agimus. So that, which p Gesner
much desires, if a speedy reformation be not had, by some
princes edicts and grave supervisors, to restrain this liberty,
it will run on in infinitum . Quis tarn avidus librorum helluo,
f f Ans. pac. _ S Inter tot mille volumina-vix unum a cujus lectione qnis melior
eradat,immo potius non pejor. h Palingenius. i Lib. 5. de sap. ^Sterile
opojrtetesse ingeninm quod in hoc scripturientnm prnritu, &c. 1 Cardan prsef.
ad consol. m Hor: ser. 1. sat 4. n Epist lib. lr Magnum poetarum pro ventom
annus hie attulit : mense Aprili nullns fere dies quo non aliquis recitavit. 0 Idem.
P Principibus et doctoribus deliberandum relinquo, ut arguantur auctorem furta, et
millies repetita tollantur, et temere scribendi libido coerceatur, aliter in infinitum pro-
gressura.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
II
who can read them*? As already, we shall have a vast chaos,
and confusion of books : we areP oppressed with them; q our
eyes ake with reading, our fingers with turning. For my part,
I am one of the number ; nosnumerus sumus : I do not deny
it. I have only this of Macrobius to say for myself, Omne
meum, nihil meum, 'tis all mine, and none mine. As a good
house- wife out of diverse fleeces weaves one piece of cloth,
a bee gathers wax and honey out of many flowers, and makes
a new bundle of all,
Floriferis nt apes in saltibus omnia libant,
I have laboriously r collected this cento out of fhrious writers,
and that sine injuria. : I have wronged no authors, but given
every man his own ; which s Hierom so much commends in
Nepotian ; he stole not whole verses, pages, tracts, as some do
now a days, concealing their authors names ; but still said this
was Cyprians, that Lactantius, that Hilarius, so said Minutius
Felix, so Victorinus, thus far Arnobius : I cite and quote
mine authors (which, howsoever some illiterate scriblers ac¬
count pedantical,as a cloke of ignorance, and opposite to their
affected fine style, I must and will use) sumpsi, non surripui ;
and what Varro, lib. 6. de re rust, speaks of bees, minime
maleficoe, nullius opus vellicantes faciunt deterius, I can say of
myself. Whom have I injured? The matter is theirs most
part, and yet mine : apparetunde sumptum sit (which Seneca
approves) ; aliud tamen, quam unde sumptum sit, apparet ;
which nature doth with the aliment of our bodies, incorpo¬
rate, digest, assimilate, I do concoquere quod hausi, dispose of
what I take : I make them pay tribute, to set out this my
Maceronican : the method only is mine own : I must usurp
that of * Wecker e Ter. nihil dictum quod non dictum prius :
methodus sola artificem ostendit : we can say nothing but what
hath been said, the composition and method is ours only,
and shews a scholar. Oribasius, Aetius, Avicenna, have all
out of Galen, but to their own method, diverso stylo, non di¬
ver sd fide. Our poets steal from Homer; he spews, saith
iEIian, they lick it up. Divines use Austins words verbatim
still, and our story-dressers do as much ; he that comes last
is commonly best,
- donee quid grandius setas
Postera, sorsque ferat melior.- -
P Onerabuntnr ingenia, nelno legendis sufficit 1 Libris. obruimur : oculi
legendo, manus volitando dolent. Fam. Strada, Momon. Lucretius. r Quidquid
ubique bene dictum facio meum, et illud nunc meis ad compendium., nnne ad fidem
et aoctoritatem alienis, exprimo verbis : omnes auctores me os ciientes esse arbitror. &e.
Sarisboriensis ad Polycrat proL s In Epitaph. Nep. illud Cyp. hoc Lact illud
Hilar, est, ita Victor inns, in hunc modum loonutus est Arnobius, &e. 1 Prsef.ad
Syntax, med. '
12
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
Though there were many giants of old in physic and philo¬
sophy, yet I say with u Didacus Stella, A dwarf standing on
the shoulders of a giant , may see farther than a giant himself ;
I may likely add, alter, and see farther than my predecessors :
and it is no greater prejudice for me to indite after others,
than for vElianus Montaltus, that famous physician, to write
do morbis capitis after Jason Pratensis, Heurnius, Hildesheim,
&c. Many horses to run in a race, one logician, one rheto¬
rician, after another. Oppose then what thou wilt,
Allafres licet usque nos et usque,
Et gannitibus improbis lacessas ;
I solve it thus. And for those other faults of barbarism,
x Dorick dialect, extemporanean style, tautologies, apish imi¬
tation, a rhapsody of rags gathered together from several
dung-hills, excrements of authors, toyes and fopperies con¬
fusedly tumbled out, without art, invention, judgement, wit,
learning, harsh, raw, rude, phantastical, absurd, insolent, in¬
discreet, ill-composed, indigested, vain, scurrile, idle, dull
and dry ; I confess all (’tis partly affected): thou canst not
think worse of me than I do of my self. ’Tis not worth the
reading, I yield it : I desire thee not to lose time in perusing
so vain a subject ; I should be peradventure loth my self to
read him or thee so writing : ’tis not opercepretium. All I
say, is this, that I have y precedents for it, which Isocrates
calls perfugium Us qui peccant, others as absurd, vain, idle,
illiterate, &c. Nonnulli alii idem fecerunt, others have done as
much, it may be more, and perhaps thou thy self : 'Novimus
et qui te, fyc. we have all Our faults ; scimus, et hanc veniam,
Sf-c. z thou censurest me, so have I done others, and may do
thee : Ccedimus, inque vicem, Sfc, ’tis lex talionis, quid pro quo .
Go now censure, criticise, scoff and rail.
a Nasutus sis usque licet, sis denique nasus,
Non potes in nugas dicere plura meas,
Ipse ego quam dixi, &c.
Wer’st thou all scoffs and flouts, a very Momus,
Than we our selves, thou canst not say worse of us.
Thus, as when women scold, have 1 cryed whore first ; and,
in some mens censures, I am afraid I have overshot my self.
Laudare se vani, vituperare stulti: as I do not arrogate, I
will not derogate. Primus vestrum non sum, nec imus, I am
none of the best, I am none of the meanest of you. As I
u In Luc. 10. tom 2. Pygmaei gigantum humeris impositi plus quam ipsr gigantes
vident. x Nec aranearum textus ideo melior, quia ex se fila gignnntur,, nec noster
ideo vilior, quia ex alienis libamus, ut apes. Lipsius adversus dialogist. y Uno
absurdo dato, mille sequuntur. z Non aubito multos Iectores hie fore stultos.
z Martial 13. S. s
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
13
am an inch, or so many feet, so many parasanges, after him
or him, I may be peradventure an ace before thee. Be it
therefore as it is, well or ill, I have assayed, put my self upon
the stage : I must abide the censure ; I may not escape it. It
is most true, stylus virum arguit, our style bewrayes us, and
b hunters find their game by the trace, so is a mans genius
described by his works : multo melius ex sermone quam linea-
mentis, de moribus hominum judicaraus ; ’twas old Cato’s rule.
I have laid myself open (I know it) in this treatise, turned
mine inside outward : I shall be censured, I doubt not; for,
to say truth with Erasmas, nihil morosius hominum judiciis,
there’s nought so pievish as mens judgements : yet thisis some
comfort — ut p alat a, sic judicia, our censures are as various as
our palats.
cTres mihi convivae prope dissentire videntur,
Poscentes vario mnltum diversa palato, &c.
Our writings are as so many dishes, our readers guests ; our
books like beauty ; that which one admires, another rejects;
so are we approved as mens fancies are inclined.
Pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli.
That which is most pleasing to one is amaracum sui, most
harsh to another. Quot homines , tot sententice, so many men,
so many minds : that which thou condemnest, he commends.
d Quod petis, id sane est invisum acidumpue duobus.
He respects matter; thou art wholly for words: be loves a
loose and free stile ; thou art all for neat composition, strong
lines, Iiyberboles, allegories : he desires a fine frontispiece, en¬
ticing pictures, such as Hieron. Natali* the Jesuit hath cut
to the Dominicals, to draw on the readers attention, which
thou rgectest ; that which one admires, another explodes as
most absurd and ridiculous. If it be not point-blank to his
humour, his method, his conceit, e si quid forsan omissum,
quod is ammo conceperit,si quae dictio, frc. if ought be omitted,
or added, which he likes, or dislikes, thou art mancipium
paucce lectionis, an idiot, an ass, nullus es, or plagiarius, a
trifler, a triviant, thou art an idle fellow; or else ’tis a thing*
of meer industry, a collection without wit or invention, a
very toy. f Facilia sic putant omnes quae jam facta, nec de
salebris cogitant, ubi via strata ; so men are valued, their la¬
bours vilified, by fellows of no worth themselves, as things
of nought : who could not have done so much ? unusquisque
abundat sensu suo, every man abounds in his own sense ; and
bUt venatores feram e vestigio impresso, virum scriptiuncnla. Lips. c Hor.
dHor. * Antwerp, fo!. 1607. e Muretus. fLipsius.
14 DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
whitest each particular party is so affected, how should one
please all }
" s Quid dem ? quid non dem ? Renuis tu, quod jubet ille.
How shall t hope to express my self to each mans humor and
h conceit, or to give satisfaction to all ? Some understand too
little, some too much, qui similiter in legendos libros, atque
in salutandos homines irruunt, non cogitantes quales , sed qui
bus testibus induii shit , as 1 Austin observes, not regarding
what, but who write, k or exin habet auctoris celehritas, not
valuing the mettal, but the stamp that is upon it ; cantharum
aspiciunt , non quid in eo. If he be not rich, in great place,
polite and brave, a great doctor, or full fraught with grand
titles, though never so well qualified, he is a dunce. But
as # Baronins hath it of cardinal Caraffa’s works, he is a
meer hog that rejects any man for his poverty. Some are too
partial, as friends to overween ; others come with a prejudice
to carp, vilifie, detract and scoff ; (qui de me forsan quidguid
est, omni eontemptu contemptius judieant) some as bees for
honey, come as spiders to gather poyson. What shall I do in
this case ? As a Dutch host, if you come to an inn in Ger¬
many, and dislike your fare, diet, lodging, &c. replyes in a
surly tone, 1 aliud iibi queer as diversorium, if you like not this,
get you to another inn: I' resolve, if you like not my writing,;
go read something else. I do not much esteem thy censure:
take thy course : ’tis not as thou wilt, nor as I will : but when
we have both done, that of m Plinius Secundus to Trajan will
prove true, Every mans witty labour takes not , except the mat¬
ter ^subject, occasion , and some commending favourite happen to
it. If I be taxed, exploded by thee and some such, 1 shall
haply be approved and commended by others, and so have
been (expertus loquor ;) and may truly say with n Jovius in like
case (absit verbo jactantia) heroum quorundam,.pontijicum, et
virorum nobilium familiaritatem et amicitiam, gratasque gra-
tias, et mult or urn °bene laudatorum laudes sum hide promeritus:
as I have been honoured by some worthy men, so have I been
vilified by others, and shall be. At the first publishing of
this hook, (which ? Probus of Persies satyrs) editum lihrum
continuo mirari homines, atque avide deripere coeperunt , I may
in some sort apply to this my work. The first, second,
and third edition w ere suddenly gone, eagerly read, and,
S Hor, b Fieri non potest, nt quad quisque cogitat, dicat unus. Muretus.
i Lib. 1. de ord. cap. 11. k Erasmus. * Annal. tom, 3. ad annum 360.
Est porcus ille qui sacerdotem ex amplitndine reditiium sordide demetitur. 1 Erasm.
dial. “Epist. L 6. Cujusque ingenium non statim emergit, misi materise
fautor, occasio, commendatorque contingat, “Prsef. Mst. «Laudari a
laudato laus est. I1 Vit, Persii,
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
15
as I have said, not so much approved by some, as scornfully
rejected by others. But it was Democritus his fortune, Idem,
admirationi et *irrisioni habitus. ’Twas Seneca’s fate : that
superintendant of wit, learning, judgement, °-ad stuporem
doctrn, the best of Greek and Latin writers, in Plutarch’s
opinion; that renowned corrector of vice, as rFabius terms
him, and painful omniscious philosopher that writ so excel¬
lently and admirably well , could not please all parties, or
escape censure. How is he villified by s Caligula, Agellius,
Fabius, and Lipsius himself, his chief propugner ? In eo pie-
raque perniciosa, saith the same Fabius : many childish tracts
and sentences he hath, sermo illaboratus, too negligent often
and remiss, as Agellius observes, oratio vulgaris et protrita ,
dicaces et inept ce sententice, eruditio plebeia, an homely shal¬
low writer as he is . In partibus spinas etfastidia , habet, saith
* Lipsius; and, as in all his other works, so especially in his
Epistles, alias in argutiis et ineptiis occupantur : intricatus
alicubi, et parum compositus , sine copid rerum hoc fecit : he
jumbles up many things together immethodically, after the
Stoicks fashion : parum ordinavit multa accumulavit, Sfc. If
Seneca be thus lashed, and many famous men that I could
name, what shall I expect ? How shall I that am vix umbra
tanti philosophic hope to please ? No man so absolute, ‘Eras¬
mus holds, to satisfe all, except antiquity, prescription, $c. set
a bar. But as 1 have proved in Seneca, this will not alwayes
take place, how shall I evade? ’Tis the common doom of
all writers : I must (I say) abide it : I seek not applause ;
u Non ego ventosce venor suffragia plebis / again, non sum adeo
informis : I would not be vilified x;
— - - — - -y laudatus abunde,
Non fastiditus ti tibi, lector ero.
I fear good mens censures; and to their favourable acceptance
I submit my labours,
- z et linguas mancipiorum
Contemno — -
As the barking of a dog, I securely contemn those malicious
and scurrile obloquies, flouts, calumnies of railers and de-
. tractors ; I scorn the rest. What therefore I have said, pro
tenuitaie med I have said.
* Mirnrit prassentia famam. 1 Lipsius, Judic. de Seneca." r Lib. 10.
Plurimum studii, multam rerum cognitionem, omnem studiorum materiam, &c.
multa in eo probanda, multa admiranda. 5 Suet. Arena sine calce.
* Introduc. ad Sen. 1 Judic de Sen. Vix aliquis tain absolutus, ut aMeri
per omnia satisfaciat, nisi longa temporis praescriptio, semcta judicandi libertate,
religione quadam aniraos occnparit u Hor. Ep. 1. lib. 29. s iEque
tnrpe frigide laudari ac insectanter vituperari. Phavorinus. A. Gel. lib. 19. c. 2,
y Ovid. Trist. 1. eleg. 6. * Juven. Sat. 5.
18
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
One or two thing's yet I was desirous to hare amended, if I
could, concerning the manner of handling this my subject, for
which I must apologize, deprecari, and upon better advice give
the friendly reader notice. It was not mine intent to prosti¬
tute my muse in English, or to divulge secreta Minervce , but
to have exposed this more contract in Latin, if I could have
got it printed. Any scurrile pamphlet is welcome to our
mercenary stationers in English : they print all,
— - - — — cuduntque libellos,
In quorum foliis vix simia nuda cacaret :
but in Latin they will not deal : which is one of the reasons
aNicholas Car,. in his Oration of the paucity of English writers
gives, that so many flourishing wits are smothered in oblivion,
lye dead and buried, in this our nation. Another main fault
is, that I have not revised the copy, and amended the style,
which now flows remisly, as it was first conceived : but my
leisure would not permit : Fecinec quodpotui , nec quod volui,
I confess it is neither as I would, or as it should be.
b Cum relego, scripsisse pudet, quia plurima cerno,
Me quoque quae fuer ant judice digna lini.
When I peruse this tract which I have writ,
I am abash’d, and much I hold unfit.
Et quod gravissimum , in the matter it self, many things I dis¬
allow at this present, which when 1 writ, cJSTon eademest cetas
non mens. I would willingly retract much, &c. but his too
late. I can only crave pardon now for what is amiss,"
I might indeed (had 1 wisely done) observed that precept
of the poet,
- nonumque prematur in annum,
and have taken more care : or as Alexander the physici in
would have done by lapis lazuli, fifty times washed before it
be used, I should have revised, corrected, and amended this
tract ; but I had not (as I said) that happy leisure, no ama¬
nuenses or assistants. Pancrates in 4 Lucian, wanting a ser¬
vant as he went from Memphis to Coptus in iEgypi, took
a door bar, and, after some superstitious Words pronounced,
(Eucrates the relator was then present) made it stand up like
a serving- man, fetch him water, turn the spit, serve in supper,
and what work he would besides ; and when be had done that
service he desired, turn’d his man to a stick again. I have no
a Aut artis inscii, ant quaestui magis quam literis student, hab. Cantab, et Lend,
excas. 1676. b Ovid, do Pont. eleg. 1. 6. c Hor. d Tore. 3. ,
Philopseud. accepto pessnlo, qnum carmen quoddam dixisset, effecit ul ambularet,
aqaam hauriret, coenaxn pararet, &c.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
17
such skill to make ue^ men at my pleasure, or means to hire
them, no whistle, to call, like the master of a ship, and bid
them run, &e. I have no such authority, no such benefactors,
as that noble * Ambrosius was to Origen, allowing him six or
seven amanuenses to write out his dictates ; I must, for that
cause, do my business myself, and was therefore enforced, as
a bear doth her whelps, to bring forth this confused lump : I
had not time to lick it into form, as she doth her young ones,
but even so to publish it, as it was first written, quidquid in
buccam venit : in an extemporean style, (as e I do commonly
all other exercises) effudi quidquid diciavit genius meus ; out
of a confused company of notes, and writ with as small deli¬
beration as I do ordinarily speak, without all affectation of
big words, fustian phrases, jingling terms, tropes, strong,
lines, (that, like * Acestes arrows, caught fire as they flow)
strains of wit, brave heats, elogies, hyperbolical exomations,
elegancies, &c. which many so much affect. I am * aquas
potor , drink no wine at all, which so much improves our mo¬
dern wits; a loose, plain, rude writer , ficum voco ficum, et
ligonem ligonem, and as free, as loose : idem calamo quod in
mente : g 1 call a spade a spade : ardmis Jicec scribo, non auri-
bus , I respect matter, not words ; remembering that of Cardan,
verba propter res, non res propter verba ; and seeking with
Seneca, quid scribam , non quemadmodum, rather what, than
how to write. For, as Philo thinks, h he that is conversant about
matter, neglects words ; and those that excell in this art of
speaking , have no profound learning :
' Verba nitent phaleris ; at nullas verba medullas
Intus habent — ■ —
Besides, it was the observation of that wise Seneca, vwhen
you see a fellow careful about his words, and neat in his speech ,
know this for a certainty , that mans mind is busied about
toyes, there’s no solidity in him. Non est ornamentum virile
concinnitas : as he said of a nightingale,
- vox es, prseterea nihil, &e.
I am therefore in this point a professed disciple of Apollo¬
nius, ascholarofSocrates: I neglectphrases, and labour wholly
to inform my readers understanding, not to please his ear ; ’tis
* Eusebios, eccles. hist. lib. 6. e Stans pede in uno, as he made verses.
* Yirg. f Non eadem a summo expectes, minimoqne poeta, S Stylos
hie nullus prater parrhesiam. h Qui rebus se exercet, verba negligit ; et qui
callet artem dicendi, nullam disciplinam habet recognitam. _ 1 Palingenius.
k Cujoscunqoe orationem vides politam et solicitam, scito animum in pnsillis occupa-
tum, in scriptis nil solidum Epist. lib. 1. 21. 1 Philestratus, lib. 8. vit Apol.
Neglige bat oratoriam facultatem, et penitus aspernabatur ejus professores, quod lia-
guam duntaxat, non autem mentem, redderent eruditiorem.
VOL. I. C
18
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
not my study or intent to compose neatly, which an orator re¬
quires, hut to express my self readily and plainly as it hap¬
pens : so that, as a river runs, sometimes precipitate and swift,
then dull and slow ; now direct, then per ambages ; now deep,
then shallow; now muddy, then clear; now broad, then nar¬
row ; doth my style flow — now serious, then light; now
comical, then satyrical; now more elaborate, then remiss,' as
the present subject required, or as at that time I was affect¬
ed. And if thou vouchsafe to read this treatise, it shall seem
no otherwise to thee, than the way to an ordinary traveller,
sometimes fair, sometimes foul ; here champion, there in¬
closed; barren in one place, better soil in another. By
woods, groves, hills, dales, plains, &c. T shall lead thee
per ardua montium, et lubrica vallium, et roscida cespitum, et
* glebosa camporum, through variety of objects, that which
thou shalt like, and surely dislike.
For the matter it self or method, if it be faulty, consider, I
pray you, that of Columella: nihil per fectum, aut a singulan
consummatum industria : no man can observe all ; much is de¬
fective no doubt, may be justly taxed, altered, and avoided in
Galen, Aristotle, those great masters. Boni venatoris, (mOne
hoi da) plures f eras capere, non omnes. He is a good hunts¬
man can catch some, not all: I have done my endeavour.
Besides, I dwell not in this study: non hie sulcos ducimus ;
non hoc pulvere desudamm : I am but a smatterer, I confess,
a stranger : 11 here and there 1 pull a flower! I do easily grant,
if a rigid censurer should criticize on this which 1 have writ,
he should not find three sole faults, as Scaliger in Terence,
but three hundred, so many as he hath done in Cardans Sub¬
tleties, as many notable errors as 0 GuL Laurembergius, a late
professor of Bwstocke, discovers in that anatomy of Laurentius,
or Barocius the Venetian in Saferoboscus. And although this
be a sixth edition, in which I should have been more accurate,
corrected all those former escapes, yet it was magni laboris
opus, so difficult and tedious, that (as carpenters uo find out
of experience, ’tis much better build a new sometimes, than
repair an old house) I could as soon write as much more, as
alter that which is written. If ought therefore be amiss, (as I
grant there is) I require a friendly admonition, no bitter in¬
vective :
p Sint. Musis socise Charites ; Furia omnis abesto.
Otherwise, as in ordinary controversies, funem contentionis
* Hie enim, quod Ssneca de Ponto, bos herbam, ciconia larisam, canis leporem,
virgo fiorem legal m Pet. Nanning, not. in Hor. “Non hie colonos
domiciliam habeo; sedj topiarii in morem, bine inde fiorem vellico, ut canis Nilum
lambens. ° Sspra bis miile aotabijes errores Laurentii^ demonstravi, &c.
v Philo de Con.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
19
nectamus .* sed cui bono ? We may contend, and likely mis¬
use each other : but to what purpose ? We are both scholars,
say,
- q Arcades ambo,
Et cantare pares, et respondere parati.
If we do wrangle, what shall we get by it ? Trouble and
wrong our selves, make sport to others. If I be convict of
an error, I will yield, I will amend. Si quid bonis morihus, si
quid veritati dissent aneum, in sacris vel humanis Uteris a me
dictum sit, id nec dictum esto. In the mean time I require a
favourable censure of all faults omitted, harsh compositions,
pleonasmes of words, tautological repetitions, (though Seneca
bear me out nunquam nimis dicitur, quod nunquam satis dici-
tur ) perturbation of tenses, numbers, printers faults. See. My
translations are sometimes rather paraphrases, than interpre¬
tations; non adverbum ; but, as an author, I use more liberty,
and that’s only taken, which was to my purpose. Quota¬
tions are often inserted in the text, which make the style
more harsh, or in the margent, as it hapned. Greek authors,
Plato, Plutarch, Athenaeus, &c. I have cited out of their in¬
terpreters, because the original was not so ready. I have
mingled sacra prof anis, but I hope not prophaned, and, in
repetition of authors names, ranked them per accidens, not
according to chronology ; sometimes neotericks before an¬
cients, as my memory suggested. Some things are here al¬
tered, expunged in this sixth edition, others amended, much
added, because many good * authors in all kinds are come to
my hands since ; and ’tis no prejudice, no such indecorum, or
oversight.
r Nunquam ita quidquam bene subducta ratione ad vilam fuit.
Quin res, eetas, usus, semper aliquid apportet novi, .
Aliquid moneat ; ut ilia, quae scire te credas, nescias,
Et, quae tibi putaris prima, in experiundo ut repudies.
Ne’er was ought yet at first contriv’d so fit,
But use, age, or something, would alter it ;
Advise thee better, and, upon peruse,
Make thee not say, and, what thou tak’st, refuse.
But I am now resolved never to put this treatise out ag'ain :
ne quid nimis, I will not hereafter add, alter, or retract* I
have done.
The last and greatest exception is, that I, being a divine,
have medled with pbysick :
- -s Tantumne est ab re tua otii tibi,
Aliena ut cures, eaque nihil quse ad te attinent ?
? Yirg. * Frambesarios, Sennertns, Ferandus, &c. r Ter. Adelph.
3 Heant act. 1. seen. 1.
20 DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
(which Menedemus objected to Chremes) have I so much
leisure or little business of mine own, as to look after other
mens matters, which concern me not ? What have I to do
with physick ? quod medicorum est, promittant medici. The
1 Lacedaemonians were once in counsel about state matters : a
debauched fellow spake excellent well, and to thepurpose : his
speech was generally approved : a grave senator steps up, and
by all means would have it repealed, though good, because
dehonestabatur pessimo auctore, it had no better an author ;
let some good man relate the same, and then it should pass.
This counsel was embraced, factum est, and it was registered
forthwith ; et sic bona sententia mansit , malus auctor mutatus
est. Thou sayest as much of me, stomachous as thou art, and
grantest peradventure this which I have written in physick,
not to be amiss, had another done it, a professed physician,
or so ; but why should I meddle with this tract ? Hear me
speak : there be many other subjects, I do easily grant, both
in humanity and divinity, fit to be treated of, which, had I
written ad ostentationem only, to show my self, I should have
rather chosen, and in which 1 have been more conversant, I
could have more willingly luxuriated, and better satisfied my
self and others; but that at this time I was fatally driven
upon this rock of melancholy, and carried away by this by¬
stream, which, as a rillet, is deducted from the main chanel
of my studies, in which I have pleased and busied my self at
idle hours, as a subject most necessary and commodious : —
not that I prefer it before divinity, which I do acknowledge
to be the queen of professions, and to which all the rest are
as handmaids, but that in divinity I saw no such great need :
for, had I written positively, there be so many books in that
kind, so many commentators, treatises, pamphlets, expositions,
sermons, that whole teems of oxen cannot draw them; and,
had I been as forward and ambitious as some others, I might
have haply printed a sermon at Pauls Cross, a sermon in St.
Maries Oxon, a sermon in Christ Church, or a sermon be¬
fore the right honourable, right reverend, a sermon before the
right worshipful, a sermon in Latine,in English, a sermon with
a name, a sermon without, a sermon, a sermon, &c. But I
have ever been as desirous to suppress my labours in this kind,
as others have been to press and publish theirs. To have
written in controversie, had been to cut off an Hydras head :
u lis litem generat ; one begets another ; so many duplications,
triplications, and swarms of questions, in sacro bello hoc quod
styli mucrone agitur, that having once began, I should never
1 Gellius, lib. 18. c. 3. u Et inde catena qasedam fit, quse hseredes etiam
ligat. Cardan. Heinsius. '
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
21
make an end. One had much better, as x Alexander the
Sixth, pope, long since observed, provoke a great prince than
a begging friar, a Jesuite, or a seminary priest: I will add, for
inexpugnabile genus hoc hominum : they are an irrefragable
society ; they must and will have the last word, and that
with such eagerness, impudence, abominable lying, falsifying,
and bitterness in their questions they proceed, that, as y he
said furorne cagcus, an rapit vis acrior, an culpa ? responswm
date. Blind fury or errour, or rashness, or what it is that
eggs them, I know not, I am sure, many times ; which z Austin
perceived long since: tempestate contentionis, serenitas, cha-
ritatis obnubilatur : with this tempest of contention, the se¬
renity of charity is over-clouded; and there be too many
spirits conjured up already in this kind in all sciences, and
more than we can tell how to lay, which do furiously rage,
and keep such a racket, that as aFabius said, it had been
much better for some of them to have been born dumb , and
altogether illiterate, than so far to dote to their own destruc¬
tion .
At melius fueratnon scribere : namque tacere
Tutum semper erit. .
’Tis a general fault— ‘so Severinus the Dane complains b in
physick —unhappy men as we are, we spend our daies in un¬
prof table questions and disputations, intricate sub tilties,«Ze land
caprina about moonshine in the water, leaving in the mean
time those chief est treasures of nature untouched, wherein the
best medicines for all manner of diseases are to be found, and
do not only neglect them our selves, but hinder, condemn, forbid,
and scoff at others, that are willing to enquire after them .
These motives at this present have induced me to make choice
of this medicinal subject.
If any physician in the mean time shall infer, ne sutor ultra
crepidam, and find himself grieved that I have intruded into
his profession, I will tell him in brief, I do not otherwise by
them, than they do by us, if it be for their advantage.
I know many of their sect which have taken orders in
hope of a benefice : ’tis a common transition : and why may
_ x Malle se bellum cum magno principe gerere, quameum rmo esfratrummendican-.
tium ordine. y Hor. epod. lib. od. 7. zEpist 86. ad Casulam presb-
a Lib. 12. cap. 1. Mutos nasci, et oifini scientist egere, satins fuisset, qnam sic in
propriam perniciem.insanire. bInfelix mortalitas ! Inntilibus quaestionibns
ac disceptationibus vitam traducimus ; naturae principes thesauros, in quibus gravis-
simae morborum medicinae collocatse sunt, interim intactos relinqnimus ; nec ipsi
solum relinquimus, sed et alios prohihemus, impedimus, condemnamus, ludibriisqne
afficimus.
22
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
not a melancholy divine, that can get nothing' hut by si¬
mony, profess physick ? Drusianus, an Italian, (Crusianus
hut corruptly, Trithemius calls him) c because be was not
fortunate in his practice, forsook his profession, and writ after¬
wards in divinity. Marcilius Ficinus was semel et sirnul, a
priest and a physician at once ; and d T. Linacer, in his old
age, took orders. The Jesuites profess both at this time :
divers of them, permissu superiorum chirurgions, panders,
bawds, and midwives, &c. Many poor countrey- vicars, for
want of other means, are driven to their shifts ; to turn
mountebanks, quacksalvers, empricks : and if our greedy
patrons hold us to such hard conditions, as commonly they
do, they will make most of us work at some trade, as Paul did
- — at last turn taskers, maltsters, costermongers, grasiers, sell
ale, as some have done, or worse. Howsoever, in undertak¬
ing this task, I hope I shall commit no great errour, or inde¬
corum, if all be considered aright- I can vindicate my self
with Georgius Braunus, and Hieronymus Hemingius, those
two learned divines, who, (to borrow a line or two of mine
e elder brother) drawn by a natural love, the one of pictures
and maps, prospectives and choro graphical delights, writ that
ample Theatre of Cities ; the other to the study of genealogies ,
penned Theatrum Genealogicum: or else I can excuse my
studies with f Lessiusthe Jesuiteinlike ease — It is adisease of
the soul, on which l am to treat, and as much appertaining to
a divine as to a physician ; and who knows not what an agree¬
ment there is betwixt these two professions ? A good divine
either is, or ought to he, a good physician, a spiritual physician
at least, as our Saviour calls himself, and was indeed, Mat. 4.
23. Luke 5. 18. Luke 7* 8. They differ but in object, the
one of the body, the other of the soul, and use divers medi¬
cines to cure ; one amen d s animamper corpus, th e othet corpus
per animam, as sour regius professour of physick well informed
us in a learned lecture of his not long since. One helps the
vices and passions, of the soul, anger, lust, desperation, pride,
presumption, &e. by applying that spiritual physick, as the
other uses proper remedies in bodily diseases. Now, this being
a common infirmity of body and soul, and such a one that hath
as much need of a spiritual as a corporal cure, I could not find
a fitter task to busie my self about — a more apposite theam,
so necessary, so commodious, and generally concerning all
° Quod in prasi minime fortunatus esset, medicinani reliquit, et, ordlnibns initiatns,
in theologia. postmoduia scripsit Gesner, Bibliotheca. d P. Joyins, ‘•’Si.
W. Burton, Preface to his Description of Leicestershire, printed at London by W,
Jaggardfor J. White, 1622. f InHygiasticgn; neque eni,m baac tractatio aliens
videri debet a theologo, &c. agitur de morbo animae. sD. Clayton, m coipxtiis^
anno 1621. "
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
23
sorts of men, that should so equally participate of both, and
require a whole physician. A divine, in this compound mixt
malady, can do little alone; a physician, in some kinds of
melancholy, much less : both make an absolute cure :
b Alterius sic altera poscit opem :
and ’tis proper to them both, and, I hope, not unbeseeming
me, who am by my profession a divine, and by mine inclina¬
tion a physician. I had Jupiter in my sixth house ; I say, with
1 Beroaldus, non sum medians, nec medicines prorsns expers; in
the theorick of physic I have taken some pains, not with an
intent to practise, but to satisfie my self ; which was a cause
likewise of the first undertaking of this subject.
If these reasons, do not satisfiethee, good reader — as Alex¬
ander Munificus, that bountiful prelate, sometime bishop of
Lincoln, when he had built six castles, ad invidiam operis
eluendam, saith k Mr. Crambden, to take away the envy of his
work, (which very words Nubrigensis hath of Roger the rich
bishop of Salisbury, who, in king Stephens time, built Shir-
burn castle, and that of Devises) to divert the scandal or impu¬
tation which might be thence inferred, built so many religious
houses — If this my discourse be over medicinal, or savour too
much of humanity, I promise thee that I will hereafter make
thee amends in some treatise of divinity. But this, I hope,
shall suffice, when you have more fully considered of the mat¬
ter of this my subject, rem suhstratam, melancholy madness,
and of the reasons following, which were my chief motives—
the generality of the disease, the necessity of the cure, and the
; commodity or common good that will arise to all men by the
knowledge of it, as shall at large appear in the ensuing pre¬
face. And I doubt not but that in the end you will say with
me, that to anatomize this humour aright through all the
members of this our microcosmus , is as great a task as to re¬
concile those chronological errours in the Assyrian monarchy,
find out the quadrature of a circle, the creeks and sounds of
the north-east or north-west passages, and, all out, as good a
discovery as that hungry 1 Spaniards of Terra Australis Incog¬
nita— as great trouble as to perfect the motion of Mars and
Mercury, which so crucifies our astronomers, or to rectifie the
Gregorian kalendar. I am so affected, for my part, and hope,
as m Theoprastus did by his Characters, that our posterity,
h Hor. i Lib. de pestil. & In Newark in Nottingham shire. Cam dno
sedificasset castella, ad tollendam structionis invidiam, et expiandam maculam, dno
institnit ccenobia et collegia religiosis implevit. 1 Ferdinando de Qnir.
anno 1612, Amsterdami impress. “Prafat. ad Characteres. , Spero enim, Q
jolycles,. liberos nostros meliores inde.futuros, quod istiusmodi memoriae mandata
xgliqnerimus, ex prseceptis et exemplis nostris ad vitam accommodatis, ut se inde
corrigant
24
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
friend Polyeles, shall he better for this which we have written,
by correcting and rectifying what is amiss in themselves by
our examples , and applying our precepts and cautions to their
own use. And. as that great captain, Zisca, would have a
drum made of his skin when he was dead, because he thought
the very noise of it would put his enemies to flight, I doubt
not but that these following lines, when they shall be recited,
or hereafter read, will drive away melancholy (though I be
gone), as much as Zisca’s drum could terrifie his foes. Yet
one caution, let me give by the. way to my present or future
reader, who is actually melancholy — that he read not the
” symptomes or prognosticks in the following tract, lest, by ap¬
plying that which he reads to himself, aggravating, appropriat¬
ing things generally spoken, to his own person (as melancholy
men for the most part do), he trouble or hurt himself, and get,
in conclusion, more harm than good. I advise them there¬
fore warily to peruse that tract. Lapides loquitur (so said
° Agrippa, deocc. Phil.) et caveant lectores ne cerebrum ids
excutiat. The rest, I doubt not, they may securely read, and
to their benefit. But 1 am over-tedious ; X proceed.
Of the necessity and generality of this which I have said, if
any man doubt, I shall desire him to make a brief survey of
the world, as p Cyprian adviseth Dona te— Supposing himself to
be transported to the top of some high mountain , and thence
to behold the tumults and chances of this wavering world, he -
cannot chuse but either laugh at, or pity it. St. Hierom, out
of a strong imagination, being in the wilderness, conceived
with himself that he then saw them dancing in Borne ; and if
thou shalt either conceive, or climb to see, thou shalt soon
perceive that all the world is mad, that it is melancholy, dotes;
that it is (which Epichthonius Cosmopolites expressed not
many years since in a map) made like a fools head (with
that motto, caput helleboro dignum ) a erased head, cavea stul -
torum, a fools paradise, or (as Apollonius) a common prison
of gulls, cheaters, flatterers, &c. and needs to be reformed.
Strabo, in the ninth book of his Geography, compares Greece
to the picture of a man ; which comparison of his Nic. Ger-
belius, in his exposition of Sophianus map, approves — The
breast lies open from those Acroceraunian hills in Epirus, ta
the Sunian promontory in Attica ; Pagae and Megara are the
two shoulders ; that Isthmos of Corinth the neck ; and Pelo¬
ponnesus the head. If this allusion hold, ’tis, sure, a mad
* Part I. sect 3. » Prsef. Lectori. P Ep. 2. 1. 2. ad Donatnm. Paullisper
te crede subdue! in ardui mentis verticem celsiorem : speeul^re inderertun jacentinm
facies ; et, oculis in diverse porreetis, flnetuantis mundi turbines intuere : jam sijaul_
aut ride bis aut misereberis, &c.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READEfe.
25
head — Morea may be Moria; and, to speak what I think, the
inhabitants of modern Greece swerve as much from reason
and time religion at this day, as that Morea doth from the
picture of a man. Examine the rest in like sort ; and you shall
find that kingdoms and provinces are melancholy, cities and
families, all creatures, vegetal, sensible, and rational— that all
sorts, sects, ages, conditions, are out of tune : as in Gebes table,
omnes errorem bibunt : before they come into the world, they
are intoxicated by errours cup — from the highest to the lowest,
have need of physick; and those particular actions in i Seneca,
where father and son prove one another mad, may be general :
Porcius Latro shall plead against us all. For indeed who is not
a fool, melancholy, mad? — r Qui nil molitur inepte ; who is not
brain-sick ? Folly, melancholy, madness, are but one disease :
delirium is a common name to all, Alexander Gordonius,
Jason Pratensis, Savanarola,Guianerius,Montaltus, confound
tern, as differing secundum magis et minus ; so doth David,
Psal. 37- 5. I said unto the fools, deal not so madly : and ’twas
an old Stoical paradox, omnes stultos insanire, — s all fools are
mad, though some madder than others. And who is not a
fool ? who is free from melancholy ? who is not touched more
or less in habit or disposition ? If in disposition, ill disposi¬
tions beget habits ; if they persevere, saith * Plutarch, habits
either are or turn to diseases. ’Tis the same which Tully
maintains in the second of his Tusculanes, omnium insipien-
tum animi in morbo sunt, et perturb at orum : fools are sick,
and all that are troubled in mind: for what is sickness, but,
as u Gregory Tholosansus defines it, a dissolution or perturba¬
tion of the bodily league which health combines ? and who is
not sick, or ill disposed ? in whom doth not passion, anger,
envy, discontent, fear, and sorrow, reign ? who labours not of
this disease ? Give me but a little leave, and you shall see by
what testimonies, confessions, arguments, I will evince it, that
most men are mad, that they had as much need to go a pil¬
grimage to the Anticyrae (as in x Strabo’s time they did), as in
our dayes they run to Compostella, our Lady of Sichem or
Lauretta, to seek for help — that it is like to be as prosperous
a voyage as that of Guiana, and that there is much more need
of hellebore than of tobacco.
q Controv. 1. 2. cont. 7. et 1. 6. cont, r Horatius. 5 Idem Hor. 1. 2.
sat 3. Damasippus Stoi'cus probat omnes stultos insanire. * T om. 2. sympos.
lib. 5. c. 6. Animi affectiones, si diutius inhsereant, pravos generant babitus. u Lib
28. cap. 1. Synt. art mir. Morbus nihil est aliud quam dissolutio qusedam ac pertur-
hatio feederis in corpore existentis^ sicutet sanitas est consentientis bene corporis con-
snmmatio qusedam. * Lib. 9. Geogr. Piures oiim gentes navigabant illue
sanitatis caussa.
26
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
That men are so misaffected, melancholy, mad, giddy-
headed, hear the testimony of Solomon, Eccles. 2. 1 2. And
I turned to behold wisdom , madness , and folly, Sfc. And
rer. 23. All his day es are sorrow , his travel grief, and his
heart taketh no rest in the night. So that, take melancholy
in what sense you will, properly or improperly, in disposition
or habit, for pleasure or for pain, dotage, discontent, fear,
sorrow, madness, for part, or all, truly, or metaphorically, ’tis
all one. Laughter it self is madness, according to Solomon;
and, as St. Paul hath it, worldly sorrow brings death. The
hearts of the sons of men are evil ; and madness is in their
hearts while they live , Eccles. 9. 3. Wise men themselves are
no better, Eccles. 1. 18. In the multitude of wisdom is much
grief; and he that increasetk wisdom, increaseth sorrow, cap.
2. 17. He hated life it self; nothing pleased him ; he hated
his labour ; all, as y he concludes, is sorrow, grief, vanity,
vexation of spirit. And, though he were the wisest man in the
world, sanctuarium sapientice, and had wisdom in abundance,
he will not vindicate himself, or justice his own actions.
Surely I am more foolish than any man, and have not the
understanding of a man in me, Prov. 33. 2. Be they Solo¬
mon's words, or the words of Agur the son of Jakeh, they are
canonical. David, a man after Gods own heart, confesseth as
much of himself, Psal. 37 • 21. 2f. So foolish was I and
ignorant, I was even as a beast before thee— and condemns all
for fools, Psal. 93, and 32. 9. and 4§. 20. He compares
them to beasts, horses, and mules , in which there is no under¬
standing. The apostle Paul accuseth himself in like . sort,
2. Cor. 11. 21. I would you would suffer a little my fool¬
ishness ; I speak foolishly. The whole head is sick, saith
Esay; and the heart is heavy, cap. 1. 5. and makes lighter
of them than of oxen and asses ; the ass knows his owner, Sf-c.
read Deut. 32. 6. Jer. 4. Amos 3. 1. Ephes. 5, 6. Be
not mad, be not deceived: foolish Galatians, who hath be¬
witched you ? How often are they branded from this epithet
of madness and folly ! No word so frequent amongst the
fathers of the church and divines. You may see what an
opinion they had of the world, and how they valued mens
actions.
I know that we think far otherwise, and hold them, most
part, wise men that are in authority— princes, magistrates,
z rich men — they are wise men born : all politicians and states¬
men must needs be so ; for who dare speak against them ?
And on the other, so corrupt is our judgement, we esteem wise
2 Jure hsereditario sapere jubentor. Enphormio, Satyr.
y Eccles. 1. 24.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
27
and honest men fools ; which Democritus well signified in an
epistle of his to Hippocrates ; a the Abderites account vertue
madness ; and so do most men living. Shall I tell you the
reason of it ? b Fortune and Vertue ( Wisdom and Folly their
seconds) upon a time contended in the Olympicks ; every man
thought that Fortune and Folly would have the worst, and
pittied their cases. _ But it fell out otherwise. Fortune was
blind, and cared not where she stroke, nor whom, without
laws, andabatarum instar, Sfc. Folly, rash and inconsiderate,
esteemed as little what she said or did. Vertue and Wisdom
gave place, cwere hissed out, and exploded by the common
people — Folly and Fortune admired ; and so are all their fol¬
lowers ever since. Knaves and fools commonly fare and de¬
serve best in worldlings eyes and opinions. Many good men
have no better fate in their ages. Achish, l Sam. 21. 14. held
David for a madman. d Elisha and the rest were no otherwise
esteemed. David was derided of the common people, Psal. 9. 7.
I am become a monster to many . And generally we are ac¬
counted fools for Christ, 1 Cor. 1 4. We fools thought his life
madness and his end without honour , Wisd. 5. 4. Christ and
his Apostles were censured in like sort, John 10. Mark 3. Acts
26. And so were all Christians in ePlinys time : fuerunt et
alii similis dementias , %-c. and called not long after, {vesct-
nice sectatores, eversores hominum, polluti novatores, fanatici ,
canes, malefici , venefci, Galilcei homunciones, SfC. ’Tis an
ordinary thing with us to account honest, devout, orthodox,
divine, religious, plain-dealing men, ideots, asses, that can¬
not or will not lye and dissemble, shift, flatter, accommodare
se ad eum locum ubi nati sunt, make good bargains, supplant,
thrive, patronis inservire, solennes ascenderidi modos appre-
hendere, leges, mores , consuetudines recte observare, candide
laudare,.fortiter defendere, sententias amplecti, dubitare de
nullis, credere omnia , accipere omnia, nihil reprehendere,
coeteraque quxs promotionem ferunt et securitatem, quce sine
arnbage felicem reddunt hominem, et vere sapientem apud nos
— that cannot temporize as other men do, § hand and take
bribes, &c.— but fear God, and make a conscience of their
doings. But the Holy Ghost, that knows better howi to j udge
— he calls them fools. The fool hath said in his heart , Psal.
53. 1 . And their wages utter their folly, Psal. 49. 14. hFor
what can be more mad , than for a little worldly pleasure , to
* Apud quos virtus, insania et furor esse dicitar. b Calcagninus, Apol. Omnes
narabaotur, putantes iilisum iri Stultitiam. Sed praster expectationem res evenit.
Audax Stultitia in earn irruit, &c. ilia cedit irrisa: et plures hinc hafeet sectatores
Stdltitia. c Non est respondendum stulto secundum stultitiain. a 2 Reg. 7.
* Lib. 10. ep. 97. 1 Aug. ep. 178. 8 Qufe, nisi mentis inops, &c.
- Q uid Susanins quam pro momentanea felicitate seternis te. mancipare suppliers ?
28
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
procure unto themselves eternal punishment ? as Gregory and
others inculcate unto us.
Yea even all those great philosophers the world hath ever
had in admiration, whose works we do so much esteem, that
gave precepts ofwisdomto others, inventers of arts and sciences
— Socrates, the wisest man of his time by the oracle of Apollo,
whom his two scholars k Plato and Xenophon so much extol
and magnifie with those honourable titles, best and wisest of
all mortal men, the happiest and most just ; and as *Alcibiades
incomparably commends him; “Achilles was a worthy man,
but Brasidas and others were as worthy as himself ; Antenor
and Nestor were as good as Pericles ; and so of the rest : but
none present, before, or after Socrates, nemo veterum neque
eorum qui nunc sunt, were ever such, will match, or come near
him” — those seven wise men of Greece, those Britain Druids,
Indian Brachmanni, ^Ethiopian Gymnosophists, Magi of the
Persians — Apollonius, of whom Philostratus, non doctus, sed
natus sapiens , wise from his cradle — Epicurus, so much ad¬
mired by his scholar Lucretius ;
Qui genus humanum ingenio super-avit, et omnes
Perstrinxit, stellas exortus ut setherius Sol -
Whose wit' excell’ d the wit of men as far,
As the Sun rising doth obscure a star -
or that so much renowned Empedocles,
* Ut vix human& videatur stirpe crcatus -
all those, of whom we read such m hyperbolical eulogiums ; as
of Aristotle, that he was wisdom itself in the abstract, na mi¬
racle of nature, breathing libraries, (as Eunapius of Longinus)
lights of nature, gyants for wit, quintessence of wit, divine
spirits, eagles in the clouds, fallen from heaven, gods, spirits,
lamps of the world, dictators,
(Nulla ferant talem secla futura virum)
moharchs, miracles, superintendents of wit and learning
Oceanus , phoenix, Atlas, nonstrum, portentum hominis,orbis
universi musceum , ultimus humanoe naturae conatus , naturae
maritus ,
— - - merito cui doctior orbis
Submissis defert fascibus imperium,
k In fine Phsedonis. Hie finis fuit amici nostri, o Eucrates, nostro quidem
judicio, omnium qnos ’expert! sumns*optimi et apprime sapientissimi, et j ustissimi.
1 Xenop 1. 4. de dictis Socratis, ad finem. Talis fuit Socrates, quern omnium opti¬
mum et felicissimum statuam. * Lib. 25. Plantonis Corrvivio. * Lucre-
tins. m Anaxagoras olim Mens dictus ab antiquis. 31 Regnla naturae,
natur® miraculum, ipsa eruditio, damonium hominis, sol scientiarum, mare, Sophia,
antistes literarum ef sapientiae, ut Scioppius olim de Seal, et Heinsius. Aquila in
nubibus, imperator literatorum, columen literarum, abjssus eruditionis, ocellus
Europas, Scaliger.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
29
as iElian writ of Protagoras and Gorgias — we may say of
them all, tantum a sapientibus dbfuerunt , quantum a viris-
pueri, they were children in respect, infants, not eagles bat
kites, novices, illiterate, eunuchi sapiential. And, although
they were the wisest' and most admired in their age, as he
censured Alexander, I do them: there were 10,000 in his army
as worthy captains (had they been in place of command), as
valiant as himself ; there were myriads of men wiser in those
dayes, and yet all short of what they ought to be. 0 Lactan-
tius, in his book of Wisdom, proves them to be dizards, fools, -
asses, mad-men, so full of absurd and ridiculous tenets ahd
brain-sick positions, that, to his thinking, never any old woman
or sick person doted worse, p Democritus took all from Leu¬
cippus, and left, saith he, the inheritance of Ms folly to Epi¬
curus : insanienti dum sapiential , Sf c. The like he holds of
Plato, Aristippus, and the rest, making no difference r betwixt .
them and beasts , saving that they could speak. s Theodoret,
in his tract De Cur Grace. Affect, manifestly evinces as much
of Socrates, whom though that oracle of Apollo confirmed
to be the wisest man then living,- and saved him from the
plague, whom 2000 years have admired, of whom some will
as soon speak evil as of Christ, yet re verd, he was an illi¬
terate ideot, as * Aristophanes calls him — irrisor et anihitiosus,
as his master Aristotle terms him, scurry, Jltticus , as Zeno,
an u enemy to all arts and sciences, as Athenseus, to philoso¬
phers and travellers, an Opinionative asse, a caviller, a kind of
pedant; for his manners, (as Tkeod. Cyrensis describes him)
a * Sodomite, an atheist, (so convict by Anytus) iracundus et
ebrius, dicax, fyc. a pot companion, by Plato’s own confes¬
sion, a sturdy drinker ; and that of all others he was most
sottish, a very mad -man in his actions and opinions. Pytha¬
goras was part philosopher, part magician, or part witch. If
you desire to hear more of Apollonius, a great wise man, some¬
time parallel’d by Julian the apostate, to Christ, I refer you to
thatlearned tract of Eusebius against Hierocles— and, for them
all, to Lucian’s Piscator,Icaromenippus, Necyomantia. Their
actions, opinions in general, were so prodigious, absurd, ridi¬
culous, which they broached and maintained ; their books and
elaborate treatises wei'e full of dotage ; which Tully (ad At-
ticum ) long since observed — delirant plerumque scriptores in
libris suis — their lives being opposite to their words, they com-
° Lib. 3. de sap c.,17. et 20. Omnes philosophi aut stnlti aut insani : nulla anus,
null us asgev, ineptius deliravit. p Democritus, a Leucippo doctus, hsereditatem
stultitiae reliquit Epicuro. q Hor. car lib. 1. od. 34. . r Nihil interest inter
hos et bestias, nisi quod loquantur. De sa. 1. 26 c. 8. s Cap. de virt, 4 Neb.
et Ranis. “Omnium disciplinarum ignarus. * Pulchrorum adolescentum
causa frequenter gymnasium obibat, &c.
so
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
mended poverty toothers, and were most covetous themselves,
extolled love and peace, and yet persecuted one another with
virulent hate and malice. They could give precepts for verse
and prose ; but not a man of them (as * Seneca tells them
home) could moderate his affections. Their musickdid shew
us flebiles modes, Sf-c. how to rise and fall; but they could not
so contain themselves, as in adversity not to make a lamentable
tone. They will measure ground by geometry, set dowm
limits, divide and subdivide, but cannot yet prescribe quantum
homini satis, or keep within compass of reason and discretion.
They can square circles, but understand not the state of their
own souls —describe right lines, and crooked, &c. but know
not what is right in this life — quidinvita rectum sit, ignorant :
so that, as he said,
Nescio, an Anticyram ratio illis destinet omnem.
I think all the Anticyrae will not restore them to their wits.
*If these men now, that held y Zenodotus heart, Crates liver,
Epictatus lanthorn, were so sottish, and had no more brains
than so many beetles, what shall we think of the commonalty ?
what of the rest ?
Yea, but (will you infer) that is true of heathens, if they
be conferred with Christians, 1 Cor. 3. 19. The wisdom of
this world is foolishness with God, earthly and devilish, as
James calls it, 3. 1 5. They were vain in their imaginations ;
and their foolish heart was full of darkness. Rom. 1 . 21, 22.
When they professed themselves wise, became fools. Their
witty works are admired here on earth, whilst their souls are
tormented in hell fire. In some sense, Christiani Crassiani,
Christians are.Crassians, and, if compared to that wisdom, no
better than fools. Quis est sapiens ? Solus Deus, * Pytha¬
goras replies : God is only wise. — Rom. 16. Paul determines,
only good, as Austin well contends; and no man living can be
justified in his sight. God looketh down from heaven upon the
children of men , to see if any did understand. Psalm 53. 2. 3.
but all are corrupt, erre. Rom. 3. 12. None doth good, no
not one. Job aggravates this, 4. 18* Behold, he found no
stedfastness in his servants, and laid folly upon his angels , 1 9.
How much more on them that dwell in houses of clay ! In this
sense, we are all as fools; and the z Scripture alone is arx
Minervce ; we and our writings are shallow and imperfect.
But I do not so mean : even in our ordinary dealings, we are
* Seneca. Scis rotunda metiri, sed non tnum animum. x Ab nberibns sapientife
lactatt, cascutire non peasant. 5' Gor Zenodoti, et jecur Cratetis. * Lib. de
nat. boni. 2 Hie profiindissimse sophise fodinse.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
SI
no better than fools. All our actions, as a Pliny told Trajan,
upbraid us of folly : our whole course of life is but matter of
laughter : we are not soberly wise; and the world it self, which
ought at least to be wise by reason of his antiquity, as b Hugo
de Prato Florido will have it, semper stultizat , is every day
more foolish than other : the more it is whipped, the wore it
is : and, as a child, will still be crowned with roses and flowers.
We are apish in it, asini bipedes; and every place is full
ihversorum Apuleiorum, of metamorphosed and two-legged
asses, inversorum Silenorum, childish, pueri instar bimuli,
tremuld patris dormientis in ulna. Jovianus Pontanus (An¬
tonio Dial.) brings in some laughing at an old man, that by
reason of his age was a little fond : but, as he admonisheth
there, ne mireris , mi hospes, de hoc sene, marvel not at him
only ; for iota hcec civitas delirium, all our town dotes in like
sort ; c we are a company, of fools. Ask not, with him in the
poet, d Larvae hunc, intemperice, insaniceque, agitant senem ?
What madness ghosts this old man ; what madness ghosts
us all ? For we are, ad unum omnes , all mad ; semel insani-
vimus omnes : not once, but always so, et semel , et simul, et
semper, ever and altogether as bad as he ; and not senex bis
puer, delira anus; but say it of us all, semper pueri ; young
and old, all dote, as Lactantius proves out of Seneca ; and
no difference betwixt us and children, saving that majora
ludimus, et grandioribus pupis, they play with babies of clouts,
and such toys, we sport with greater babies. We cannot
accuse or condemn one another, being faulty ourselves ; de-
Ur amenta loqueris, you talk idly, or, as e Micio Upbraided
Demea, insanis ? aujfer ; for we are as mad our own selves ;
and it is hard to say which is the worst. Nay^’tis univer¬
sally so,
f Vitam regit fortuna, non sapientia.
When s Socrates had taken great pains to find out a wise
man, and, to that purpose, had consulted with philosophers,
poets, artificers, he concludes all men were fools ; and, though
it procured him both anger and much envy, yet in all com¬
panies he would openly profess it. When * Supputius in
Pontanus had travelled all over Europe to conferr with a wise
man, he returned at last without his errand, and could find
none, h Cardan concurs with him : Few there are (for ought
aPanegyr.Trajano. Omnes actiones exprobrare staltitiam videntur. bSer.4. in
domi Pal. Mundns, qni oh antiquitatem deberet esse sapiens, semper stnltizat, et nullis
flageliis alteratnr ; sed, et pner, vnlt rosis et floribus coronari. c Insannm te omnes
pueri. elamaritqaepuells. Hor. d Plautus, Aulular. <> Adelph.'act. 5 seen. 8.
i Tally, Tcso. 5. g Plato, Apologia Socratis. * An i. Dial. 11 Lib. 3. de. sap.
Pauci, ut video, sanse mentis sunt.
32
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
I can perceive) well in their wits . So doth hTuIly : I see
every thing to be done foolishly and unadvisedly.
Ille sinistrorsum, hie dextrorsum abit : unus utrique
Error; sed variis illudit partibus omnes.
One reels to this, another ,to that wall;
’Tis the same errour that deludes them all.
* They dote all, but not alike, (m avia. yov irao-tv fifiiex) not in
the same kind. One is covetous , a second lascivious, d third
ambitious, a fourth envious, fyc. as Damasippus the Stoick
hath well illustrated in the poet,
k Desipiunt omnes seque ac tu.
’Tis an inhred maladie : in every one of us, there is seminarium
stultitice, a seminary of folly, which, if it be stirred up, or get
a head, will run in infinitum, and infinitely varies, as we our
selves are severally addicted, (saith 1 Balthazar Cas'tilio) and
cannot so easily be rooted out; it takes such hold, as Tally
holds, altce radices stultitice ; m so we are bred, and so we con¬
tinue. Some say there be two main defects of wit— errour and
ignorance— to which all others are reduced. By ignorance we
know not things necessary ; by errour we know them falsly. Ig¬
norance is a privation, errour a positive act. From ignorance
comes vice, from errour heresie, &c. But make how many
kinds you will, divide and subdivide ; few men are free, or
that do not impinge on some one kind or other. n Sic pie -
rumque agitat stultos inscitia, as he that examines his own and
other mens actions, shall find.
* Charon, in Lucian, (as he wittily feigns) was conducted by
Mercury to such a place, where he might see all the world at
once. After he had sufficiently viewed, and looked about, Mer¬
cury would needs know of him what he had observed. He told
him that he saw a vast multitude, and a promiscuous ; their
habitations like mole-hills ; the men as emmets : he could
discern cities like so many hives of bees, wherein every bee
had a sting ; and they did nought else but sting one another ;
some domineering like hornets, bigger than the rest, some
like filching wasps, others as drones. Over their heads were
hovering a confused company of perturbations, hope, fear,
anger, avarice, ignorance, & c. and a multitude of diseases
hanging, which they still pulled on their pates. Some were
h Stulte et incaute omnia agi video. > Insania non omnibus eadem. Erasm. chil.
3. cent. 10. Nemo mortalium qui non aliqua in re desipit, licet alius alio.morbo laboret,
hie libidinis, ille aviriti®, ambitionis, invidise. k H0r. 1 . 2. sat 3.' 1 Lib. 1. de
aulico. Est in unoquoque nostrum seminarium aliquod stultiti®, quod si quando ex-
citetur, in infinitum facile excrescit mPrimaque lux vitas prima furoris erat.
Tibullus. Stulti praetereunt dies ; their wits are a wool-gathering. So fools com¬
monly dote. * Dial contemplantes, tom. 2:
33
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
brawling, some fighting, riding, running, solicite ambientes,
collide litigantes , for toyes, and trifles, and such momentany
things — their towns and provinces meer factions, rich against
poor, poor against rich, nobles against artificers, they against
nobles, and so the rest. In conclusion, he condemned them all
for mad -men, fools, ideots, asses — O stulti ! quoenam base est
amentia ? O fools ! O mad-men ! he exclaims, insana studia,
insani labar.es , fyc. Mad endeavours! mad actions ! mad ! mad !
mad ! ° O seclum insipiens et injicetum ! a giddy-headed age.
Heraclitus the philosopher, out of a serious meditation of mens
lives, fell a weeping, and with continual tears bewailed their
misery, madness and folly; Democritus, on the other side,
burst out a laughing; their whole life seemed to him so ridicu¬
lous : and he was so far carried with this ironical passion, that
the citizens of Abdera took him to be mad, aud sent therefore
embassadors to Hippocrates the physician,' that he would ex¬
ercise his skill upon him. But the story is set down at large
by Hippocrates, in his Epistle to Damagetus, which, because
it is not impertinent to this discourse, I will insert verbatim
almost,. as it is delivered by Hippocrates himself, with all the
circumstances belonging unto it.
When Hippocrates was come to Abdera, the people of the
city came flocking about him, some weeping, some intreating
of him that he would do his best. After some little repast,
he went to see Democritus, the people following him, whom
he found (as before) in his garden in the suburbs, all alone,
v sitting upon a stone under a plane tree, without hose or shoes,
with a book on his knees, cutting up several beasts, and,
busie at his study. The multitude stood gazing round about,
to see the congress. Hippocrates, after a little pause, saluted
him by his name, whom he re-saluted, ashamed almost that
he could not call him likewise by his, or that he had forgot it.
Hippocrates demanded of him what he -was doing. He told
him that he was i busie in cutting up several beasts, to find
out the cause of madness and melancholy. Hippocrates
commended his work, admiring his happiness and leisure.
And why, quoth Democritus, have not you that leisure ?
Because,replyed Hippocrates, domestical affairs hinder,neces-
sary to be done, for our selves, neighbours, friends — expences,
diseases, frailties and mortalities which happen — wife, children,,
servants, and such businesses, which deprive us of our time.
° Catullus. PSub ramosa platano sedentem, solum, discalceatum, super
lapidem, valde pallidum ac macilentum, promissa barba, librum super genibus ha-
bentem. qBe furore, mania melancholia scribo, ut sciam quo pacto in ho-
minibus gignatur, fiat, crescat, eumuletur, minuatur. Heec (iniquit) animalia, quse
•rides, propterea seeo, non Dei opera perosus, sed fellis biiisque uaturam disqui-
34
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
At this speech Democritus profusely laughed (his friends, and
the people standing by, weeping in the mean time, and lament¬
ing his madness). Hippocrates asked the reason why he
laughed. He told him, at the vanities and fopperies of the
time, to see men so empty of all virtuous actions, to hunt so
far after gold, having no end of ambition — to take such infinite
pains for a little glory, and to be favoured of men — to make
such deep mines into the earth for gold, and many times to
find nothing, with loss of their lives and fortunes — some to
love dogs, others horses, some to desire to be obeyed in many
provinces, r and yet themselves will knowno obedience— s some
to love their wives dearly at first, and, after a while, to forsake
and hate them— begetting children, with much care and cost
for their education, yet, when they grow to mans estate, 4 to
despise, neglect, and leave them naked to the worlds mercy.
“ Do not these behaviours express their intolerable folly ?;
When men live in peace, they covet war, detesting quietness,
x deposing kings, and advancing others in their stead, murder¬
ing some men, to beget children of their wives. How many
strange humours are in men ! When they are poor and needy,
they seek riches ; and, when they have them, they do not enj oy
them, but hide them under ground, or else wastef'ully spend
them. O wise Hippocrates ! I laugh at such things being
done, but much more when no good comes of them, and when
they are done to so ill purpose. There is no truth or justice
found amongst them ; for they daily plead one against another,
y the son against the father and the mother, brother against
brother, kindred and friends of the same quality ; and all this
for riches,' whereof, after death, they cannot be possessors.
And yet— notwithstanding they will defame and kill one an¬
other, commit all unlawful actions, contemning God and men,
friends and countrey— they makegreataccount of many sense¬
less things, esteeming them as a great part of their treasure
statues, pictures, and such like moveables, dear bought, and so
cunningly wrought, * as nothing but speech wanteth in them ;
z and yet they hate living persons speaking to them. Others
affect difficult things : if they dwell on firm land, they will re¬
move to an island thence to land again, being no way con¬
stant to their desires. They commend courage and strength in
wars, a7Td let themselves be conquered by lust and avarice.
They are, in brief, as disordered in their minds, as Thersites
r Aust. 1. 1. in Gen. Jnmenti et servi toi obsequiutn rigide postnlas ; et tn nnlkitn
prsestas aliis, nec ipsi Deo, sUxores docunt,Tnox foras ejiciunt. 1 Paeros amaijt,
mox fastidiunt. "Quid hoc ab insania deest? x Reges eligunt, deponent,
y Contra parentes, fratres, cives, perpetuo rixantur, et inimicitias agunt. * Credo
eqoidein, lives docent de mannore vultos. * Idola inanimata amant ; aniinata odio
habent ; sic pontificii.
DEMOCRITUS TO TRE READER.
35
was in his body. And now me thinks, O most worthy Hip¬
pocrates ! yon should not reprehend my laughing-, perceiving
so many fooleries in men ; a for no man will mock his own folly,
but that which he seeth in a second ; and so they justly mock
one another. The drunkard calls him a glutton, whom he
knows to be sober. Many men love the sea, others husbandry:
briefly, ^they cannot agree in their own trades and professions,
much less in their lives and actions.
When Hippocrates heard these words so readily uttered,
without premeditation, to declare the worlds vanity, full of
ridiculous contrariety, he made answer, that necessity com¬
pelled men to many such actions, and divers wills easuingfrom
divine permission, that we might not be, idle, seeing nothing is
so odious to them as'sloth and negligence. Besides, men can¬
not forsee future events, in the uncertainty of humane affairs ;
they would not so marry, if they could foretell the causes of
their dislike and separation ; or parents, if they knew the hour
of their childrens death so tenderly provide for them ; or an
husbandman sow, if he thought there would be no increase ;
or a merchant adventure to sea, if he foresaw shipwrack ; or
be a magistrate, if presently to be deposed. Alas ! worthy
Pemocritus, every man hopes the best ; and to that end he
doth it ; and therefore no such cause, or ridiculous occasion of
laughter.
Pemocritus, hearing this poor excuse, laughed again aloud,
perceiving he wholly mistook him, and did not well understand
what he had said concerning perturbations, and tranquillity of
the mind— insomuch, that, if men would govern their actions
by discretion and providence, they would not declare them¬
selves fools as now they do ; and he should have no cause of
laughter ; but (quoth he) they swell in this life, as if they were
immortal, and demi-gods, for want of understanding. It were
enough to make them wise, if they would but consider the
mutability of this world, and how it wheels about, nothing
being firm and sure. He that is now above, to morrow is
beneath ; he that sate on this side to day, to morrow is hurled
on the other ; and, not considering these matters, they fall into
many inconveniences and troubles, coveting things of no profit,
and thirsting after them, tumbling headlong into many cala¬
mities — so that, if men would attempt no more than what they
can bear, they should lead contented lives — and, learning to
know themselves, would limit their ambition, b they would
perceive then that nature hath enough, without seeking such
aSuam stnltitiam perspicit nemo, sed alter al teram deridet. b Denique sit finis
quasrendi : cumque habeas pins, Pauperiem metuas minus, et-finire laborem Incipias,
parto, quod avebas ; ntere. Hor.
36
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
superfluities, and unprofitable things, which bring' nothing with
them but gTief and molestation. As a fat body is more subject
to diseases, so are rich men to absurdities and fooleries, to
many casualties and cross inconveniencies. There are many
that take no heed what happeneth to others by bad conversa¬
tion, and therefore overthrow themselves in. the same manner
through their own fault, not foreseeing dangers manifest.
These are things (O more than mad ! quoth he) that give me
matter of laughter, by suffering the pains of your impieties,
as your avarice, envy, malice, enormous villanies, mutinies,
unsalable desires, conspiracies, and other incurable vices — be¬
sides yourcdissimulaiion and hypocrisie, bearing deadly hatred
one to the other, and yet shadowing it with a good face — flying
out into ali filthy lusts, and transgressions of all laws, both of
nature and civility. Many things, which they have left off,
after a while they fall to again— husbandry, navigation— and
leave again, fickle and unconstant as they are. When they
are young’, they would be old, and old, young. dPrinces com¬
mend a private life ; private men itch after honour : a magi¬
strate commends a quiet life; a quiet man would be in his office,
and obeyed as he is: and what is the cause of all this, butthat
they know not themselves ? Some delight to destroy, ebne to
build, another to spoil one countrey to enrich another and
himself. fIn all these things they are like children, in whom
is no judgement or counsel, and resemble beasts, saving that
beasts are better than they, as being cpntented with nature.
gWhen shall you see a lion hide gold in the ground, or ahull
contend for a better pasture ? When a boar is tbirsty,he drinks
what will serve him, and no more ; and, when his belly is full,
he ceaseth to eat; but men are immoderate inboth, as in lust —
they covet carnal copulation at set times ; men always, ruinat¬
ing thereby the health of their bodies. And doth it not de¬
serve laughter, to see an amorous fool torment himself for a
wench, weep, howl for a mis-shapen slut, a dowdy some¬
times, that might have his choice of the finest beauties? Is
there any remedy for this in physick? hI do anatomize and cut
up these poor beasts, to see these distempers, vanities, and
follies : yet such proof were better made on mans body, (if my
c Astutam vapido servat sub pectore vulpem.— Et, cum; vulpe positus, pariter vul-
pinarier. — Cretinandum cum Crete. dQui fit, Msecenas, at nemo, quam sibi sortem
Sen ratio dederit, sen sors objecerit, ilia Coutentus vivat? &c Hor. eDiruit;
asdificat, mutat qnadrata rotundis — Trajanus pontem struxit super Danubinm, quem
successor ejns Adrianos statim demolitus. f Qua quid in re ab infantibus differunt.
quibus mens et sensus sine ratione inest ? Qnidqnid sese his off'ert, volupe est. S Idem
Plat. !l Ut msanise caussam disquiram, bruta macto et seco, cum hoc potius in ho-
minibus investigandnm ess et. •
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
37
kind nature would endure it) * who, from the hour of his
birth, is most miserable, weak, and sickly : when he sucks, he
is guided by others, when he is grown great, practised! unhap¬
piness, k and is sturdy, and, when old, a child again, and
repen teth him of his life past. And here being interrupted by
one that brought books, he fell to it again, that all were mad,
careless, stupid. To prove my former speeches, look into
courts, or private houses, fudges give judgement according
totheirown advantage, doingmanifestwrong to poorinnocents
to please others. Notaries alter sentences, and, for money,
lose their deeds. Some make false moneys : others counterfeit
false weights. Some abuse their parents, yea corrupt their
own sisters ; others make long libels and pasquils, defaming
men of good life, and extol such as are lewd and vicious.
Some rob one, some another : “magistrates make laws against
thieves, and are the veriest, thieves themselves. Some kill
themselves, others despair, not obtaining their desires.' Some
dance, sing, laugh, feast, and banquet, whilst others sigh, lan¬
guish, mourn, and lament, having neither meat, drink, nor
clothes. n Some prank up their bodies, and have their minds
full of execrable vices. Some trot about, °tp bear false witness,
and sayany thing for money; and though judges know of it, yet
for a bribe they wink at it, and suffer false contracts to prevail
against equity. Women are all day a dressing, to pleasure other
men abroad, and go like sluts athome,not caring to please their
own husbands, whom they should. Seeing men are so fickle,
so sottish, so intemperate, why should not I laugh at those,
to whom p folly seems wisdom, will not be cured, and per¬
ceive it not?
It grew late : Hippocrates left him ; and no sooner was he
come away, but all the citizens came about flocking, to know
bow he liked him. Hetold them in brief, that, notwithstand¬
ing those small neglects of his attire, body, diet, s the world
had not a wiser, a more learned, a more honest man; and
they were much deceived, to say that he was mad.
Thus Democritus esteemed of the world in his time ; and
this was the cause of his laughter : and good cause he had.
\Totas a nativitate morbus est. k In vigore furibundus, qDum decrescit insana-
bilis. ^Cyprian. ad Donatum. Qui sedet, crimina judicatures, &c. mTu
pessimus omnium latro es, as a thief told Alexander in Curtius. — Damnat foras
judex, quod intus operator. Cyprian. n Vultos magnacura; magna animi incu¬
ria. Am. Marcel. ° Horrenda res est ! vix duo verba sine mendacio proferuntur :
et, quamvis solenniter homines ad veritatem dicendam invitentur, pejerare tamen
non dubitant; ut ex, decern testibus vix unusverum dicat. Calv. in 8. Job. Serm.
1. P Sapientiam insaniam esse dicnnt. <! Siquidem sapientiae suae admiratione
me complevit ; offendi sapientissimum virum, qui salvos potest omnes homines
reddere. .
SB DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
r01im jure quidem, nunc plus, Democrite, ride.
Quin rides? vita hsec nunc mage ridicula est.
Democritus did well to laugh of old:
Good cause he had, but now much more :
This life of ours is more ridiculous
Than that of his, or long before.
Never so much cause of laughter, as now ■; never so many
fools and mad men. ’Tis not one s Democritus will serve turn
to laugh in these days : we have now need of a Democritus
to laugh, at Democritus , one jester to flout at another, one fool
to flear at another — a great Stentorian Democritus, as bigas
that Rhodian Colossus ; for now, as 1 Salisburiensis said in
his time, totus mundus histrionem agit — the whole world
playes the fool : we have a new theatre, a new scene, a new
comedy oferrours, a new company of personate actors: Volupice
sacrce (as Calcagnihus wittily feigns in his Apologues) are ce¬
lebrated all the world over, * where all the actors were mad
men and fools, and every hour changed habits or took that
which came next. He that was a mariner to day, is an apo¬
thecary to morrow, a smith one while, a philosopher another,
in Ms Volupice ludis — a king now with his crown, robes,
scepter, attendants, by and by drove a loaded asse before him
like a carter, &c. If Democritus were alive now, he should
see strange alterations, anew company of counterfeit vizards,
whifiers, Cumane asses, maskers, mummers, painted puppets,
outsides, phantastick shadows, guls, monsters^ giddy-heads,
butter-flies : and so many of them are indeed (u if all be true
that I have read); for, when Jupiter and Junos wedding was
solemni zed of old, the gods were all invited to the feast, and
many noble men besides : amongst the rest came Chrysalus,a
Persian prince, bravely attended, rich in golden attires, in gay
robes, with a majestical presence, but otherwise an asse. The
gods, seeing him come in such pomp and state, rose up to give
him place, ex habitu hominem metientes; xhut Jupiter, per¬
ceiving what he was — alight, phantastick, idle fellow — t urned
him and his proud followers into butter-flies: and so they con¬
tinue still (for ought I know to the contrary), roving about in
— r'E. Graec. epig. ^Flares Democriti nunc non sufficinnt. ’Optts-Deffiticrito,
qui Democritum rideat. Eras. Moria. * Poiycrait. lib. 3. cap. 8. e Petron.
'* TJbi omnes delirabant, omnes insani, &c. hodie nanta, eras philosophus: hodie
faber, cras pharmacopola ; hie inodo regem agebat multo satellitio, tiara, et soeptro
drn’atus, nunc vili amictus centiculo, asinum clitellarium impe'llit. uGalcagmi-
nus, Apol.Ghrysalns ecaeferis. attro dives^manicatopeploet trara conspicnns, levis
alioquin etmulhus consilii, &c. Magno faslu ingretdienti assurgunt5)iv&c. xSed
hominis levitatem Jupiter perspiciehs, at tn (inquit) esto bombilio, Ac. protinusque
Vests ilia manicata in alas Versa est ; et mortales inde Chrysalides vocant hujusmodi
homines.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
39
pied-coats, and are. called Chrysalides by the wiser sort of
men — that is, golden outsides, drones, flies, and things of no
worth. Multitudes of such, &c.
- ubique invenies
Stultos avaros, sycophantas prodigos.
Many additions, much increaseof madness, folly, vanity should
Democritus observe, were he now to travel, or could get leave
of Pluto to come to see fashions, (as Charon did in Lucian) to
visit our cities of Moronia Pia, and Moronia Felix — sure I
think he would break the rim of his belly laughing.
a Si foret in terris, rideret Democritus, seu, &c,
A satyrical Roman, in his time, thought all vice, folly, and
madness, were all at full sea,
b Omne in prsecipiti vitium stetit. -
* Josephus the historian taxeth his countrymen Jews for
bragging of their vices, publishing their follies, and that they
did contend amongst themselves, who should be most notorious
in villanies : but we flow higher in madness, far beyond them?
c Mox daturi progeniem vitiosiorem ;
and the latter end (you know, whose oracle it is) is like to be
worst. ’Tis not to be denied ; the world alters every day.
Ruunt urbes, regna transfer untur, fyc. variantur habitus, leges
innovantur , as d Petrarch observes — >we change language,
habits, laws customs, manners, but not vices, not diseases,
not the symptoms of folly and madness ; they are still the
same. And, as a river (we see) keeps the like name and place,
but not water, and yet ever runs,
(* Labitur et labetur iri omne volubilis eevum)
our times and persons alter, vices are the same, and ever will
be. Look how nightingals sang of old, cocks crowed, kine
lowed, sheep bleated, sparrows chirped, dogs barked; so they
do still : we keep our madness still, play the fools still, nee
dumjmitus Orestes ; we are of the same humours and inclina¬
tions as our predecessors were ; you shall find us all alike,
much at one, we and our sons,
Et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis ;
and so shall our posterity continue to the last. Bat to speak
of times present—
a Juven. b Juven. *De bello Jud. 1. 8. c. 11. Iniquitates vestrse
neminem latent ; inque dies smgulos certanaen babetis, quis pejor sit c Hor.
dLib. 5. Epist. 8. *Hor.
40
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
If Democritus were alive now, and should but see the su¬
perstition of our age, our e religious madness, as f Meteran
calls it, religiosam insamara — so many professed Christians',
yet so few imitators of Christ, so much talk of religion, so
much science, so little conscience, so much knowledge, so
many preachers, so little practice — such variety of sects, such
have and hold of all sides,
- * obvia signis signa, &c, —
such absurd and ridiculous traditions and ceremonies — if he
should meet a® Capouchin, a Franciscan, a pharisaical Jesuite,
a man-serpent, a shave-crowned monk in his robes, a begging
frier, or see their three-crowned soveraign lord the pope, poor
Peter’s successour ,servus servorum Dei, to depose kings with
his foot, to tread on emperours necks, make them, hare-foot and
bare-legg’d at his gates, hold his bridle and stirrup, &c. (O
that Peter and Paul were alive to see this!) — if he should ob¬
serve a h prince creep so devoutly to kiss his toe, and those red¬
cap cardinals, poor parish priests of old, now princes com¬
panions — what would he say ? Ccelum ipsumpetitur stultitid „
Had he met some of our devout pilgrims going bare-foot to
Jerusalem, our lady of Lauretto, Rome, St. Iago, S. Thomas
shrine, to creep to those counterfeit and maggot-eaten reliques
— had he been present at a masse, and seen such kissing of
paxes, crucifixes, cringes, duckings, their several attires and
ceremonies, pictures of saints, 1 indulgences, pardons, vigils,
fasting, feasts, crossing, knocking, kneeling at Ave Maries ,
bells, with many such
- jucunda rudi spectacula plebi,
pi'aying in gibberish, and mumbling of beads — had he heard
an old woman say her prayers in Latine, their sprinkling of
holy water, and going a procession,
( - - — -* monachorum incedunt agmina mille ;
Quid memorem vexilla, cruces, idolaque culta, &c.
their breviaries, bulls, hallowed beads, exorcisms, pictures,
curious crosses, fables, and babies — had he read the Golden'
Legend, the Turks Alcoran, or Jews Talmud, the Rabbins
eSuperstitio est insanus error. fLib. 8. hist. Be!g. * Lucan. g Fa¬
ther Angelo, the Duke of Joyeuse, going bare-foot over the Alps .to Rome, &c.
11 Si cui intueri vacet quae patiuntur superstitiosi, invenies tam indecora honestis, tam
indigna liberis, tam dissimilia sanis. ut nemo fuerit dubitaturus furere eos, si cum
paucioribus furerent. Senec. 5 Quid dicam de eorum indulgentiis, oblationibus,
votis, solutionibus, jejuniis, coenobiis, vigiliis, somniis, horis, organis, cantilenis,
campanis, simulacris, missis, pnrgatoriis, mitris, breviariis, bullis, lustralibus aquis,
rasuris, unctionibus, candeiis, calicibus, crucibus, mappis, cereis, thuribulis, incanta-
tiombus, eiorcismis, sputis, legendis, &c. Baleus, de actis Rom. Pont. * Th.
DEMOCRITTTS TO THE READER.
41
Comments, what would he have thought ? How dost thou
think he might have been affected ? Had he more particularly
examined a Jesuites life amongst the rest, he should have seen
an hypocrite profess poverty, k and yet possess more goods and
lauds than many princes, to have infinite treasures and reve¬
nues — teach others to fast, and play the gluttons themselves ;
like watermen, that rowe one way and look another — 1 vow
-virginity, talk of holiness, and yet indeed a notorious bawd,
and famous fornicator, lascivum pecus, a very goat — monks
by profession*, such as give over the world, and the vanities
of it, and yet a Machiavellian rout “interested in all matters
of state — holy men, peace-makers, and yet composed of envy,
lust, ambition, hatred and malice, fire-brands, adulta putrios
pestis, traitours, assassinates— hac itur ad astfa ; and this is
to supererogate, and meritheaven for themselves and others !
Had he seen on the adverse side, some of our nice and cu¬
rious schismaticks in another extream, abhor all ceremonies,
and rather lose their lives and livings, than do or admit any
thing papists have formerly used, though in things indifferent
(they alone are the true church, sal terrce , cum sint omnium
insulsissimi) — formalists, out of fear and base flattery, like so
many weather-cocks, turn round — a rout of temporisers, ready
to embrace and maintain all that is or shall be proposed, in
hope of preferment— another Epicurean company, lying at
lurch as so many vultures, watching for a prey of church
goods, and ready to rise by the down- fall of any— as n Lucian
said in like case, what dost thou think Democritus would have
done, had he been spectatour of these things ; or, had he but
observed the common people follow like so many sheep one
of their fellows drawn by the horns over a gap, some for zeal,
some for fear, quo se cumque rapid tempestas, to credit all,
. examine nothing, and yet ready to dye before they will abjure
any of those ceremonies, to which they have been accustomed
— others out of hypocrisie frequent sermons, knock their
breasts, turn up their eyes, pretend zeal, desire reformation,
and yet professed usurers, gripers, monsters of men, harpies,
devils, in their lives, to express nothing less ?
What would he have said, to see, hear, and read so many
bloody battels, so many thousands slain at once, such streams
of blood able to turn mills, unius oh noxam furiasque, or to
k Dum simulant spernere, acquisiverunt sibi 30 annorum spatio bis centena millia
librarum annua. Arnold. 1 Et quum inferdiu de virtute loquuti sunt, sero
in latibulis dunes agitant labore nocturno. Agrippa.- * 2 Tim. 3. 13. — But they
shall prevail no longer: their madness shall be evident to all men. mBenigm-
tatis sinus solebat esse, nunc litium officina, curia Romana. Budseus. u Quid
tibi videtur facturus Democritus, si horum spectator contigisset ?
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
42*
make sport for princes, without any just cause, * for vain
titles (saith Austin) precedency, some wench, or such like toy ,
or out of desire of domineering, vain-glory, malice, revenge,
folly, madness, (goodly causes all, oh quas universus orhis
bellis et ccedibus misceatur ) wildest statesmen themselves in
the mean time are secure at home, pampered with all delights
and pleasures, take their ease, and follow their lust, not con¬
sidering what intolerable misery poor souldiers endure, their
often wounds, hunger, thirst, &c. ? The lamentable cares,
torments, calamities and oppressions, that accompany such ,
proceedings, they feel not, take no notice of it. jSo wars are
begun , by the perswmion of debauched , hair-brained, poor ,
dissolute , hungry captains, parasitical fawners, unquiet hot¬
spurs, restless innovators , green heads, to satisfe one mans
private spleen, lust, ambition , avarice, tales repiunt
seelerata in prcelia caussce. Flos hominum, proper men, well
proportioned, carefully brought up, able both in body and
mind, sound, led like so many ° beasts to the slaughter in the .
flower of their years, pride, and full strength, without all re¬
morse and pitty, sacrificed to Pluto, killed up as so many
sheep, for devils food, 40000 at once. At once, said I ? —
that were tolerable : but these wars last alwayes ; and for
many ages, nothing- so familiar as this hacking and hewing,
massacres, murders, desolations—
( — • — - ignoto ccelum clangore remugit)
they care not what mischief they procure, so that they may en¬
rich themselves for the present : they will so long blow the coals
of contention, till all the world be consumed with fire. The
Pseige of Troy lasted ten years, eight months : there died 870000
Grecians, 670000 Trojans : at the taking of the city, and after,
were slain27 6000 men, women, and children, of all sorts. Csesar
killed a million, Mahomet the ^ Second Turk 30000 persons ;
Sicinius Dentals fought in an hundred battels ; eight times in
single combat he overcame, had forty wounds before, was
rewarded with 140 crowns, triumphed nine times for his good
service. M. Sergius had 32 wounds; Scseva the centurion, I
know not how many ; every nation hath their Hectors, Scipios,
Caesars, and Alexanders. Our r Edward the Fourth was in 26
battels afoot : and, as they do all, he glories in it ; ’tis related
to his honour. At the siege of Hierusalem, 1100000 died with
sword and famine. At the battel of Cannas, 70000 men were
* Ob inanes ditionum titulos, ob prsereptum locum, ob -interceptam mnliercu-
lam, vel quod e stultitia natum, vel e malitia, quod cupido dominandi libido
nocendi, &c. ° Bellum rem plane belluinam vocat Morns, Utop. lib. 2.
p Munster. Cosmog. 1. 5. c. 3. E Diet. Cretans. ‘ q Jovius, vit. ejus.
r Comineus.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
43
slain, *as Polybius records, and as many at Battle Abbye with
us ; and ’tis no news to fight from sun to sun, as they did, as
Constantine and Licinius, &e. At the siege of Ostend, (the
devils academy) a poor town in respect, a small fort, but a
great grave, 1 20000 men lost their lives, besides whole towns,
dorpes, and hospitals, full of maimed souldiers. There were
engines, fire-works, and whatsoever the devil could invent to
domisehief,with 2500000 iron bullets shot of 40 pounds weight,
three or four millions of gold consumed. 5 Who (saith mine
author) can be sufficiently amazed at their flinty hearts , obsti¬
nacy, flury, blindness, who, without any lihelyhood of good
success, hazard poor souldiers, and lead them without pitty to
the slaughter, which may justly be called the rage of furious
beasts , that run without reason upon their own deaths ? * quis
malus genius, quce Furia, quce pestis, <$fC. what plague, what
Fury, brought so devilfish, so bruitish a thing as war first into
mens minds ? Who had so soft and peaceable a creature,
born to love, mercy, meekness, so to rave, rage like beasts, and
run on to their own destruction? how may Nature expostulate
with mankind, Ego te divinum animal flnxi, Sfc. I made
thee an harmless, quiet, a divine creature ! how may God ex¬
postulate, and all good men ! yet, horum facta (as '* one con¬
doles ( tantum admirantur, et heroum numero habent : these
are the brave spirits, the gallants of the world, these admired
alone triumph alone, have statues, crowns, pyramids, obelisks
to their eternal fame, that immortal genius attends on them :
hac itur adastra. When Rhodes was besieged, * fosse urbis
cadaveribus repletce sunt, the ditches were full of dead car¬
cases; and (as when the said Solyman great Turk beleagred
Vienna) they lay level with the top of the walls. This they
make a sport of, and will do it to their friends and confederates,
against oathes, vows, promises, by treachery or otherwise —
u dolus an virtus, quis in hoste reqmrat ?
leagues and laws of arms (x silent leges inter arma : for their
advantage, omnia jura, divina, humana, proculcata plerum-
que sunt) Gods and mens laws, are trampled under foot ;
the sword alone determines all ; to safisfie their lust and
spleen, they care not what they attempt, say or do :
- y Kara fides, probitasque, viris qui castra sequuntur.
*Lib.3. cBist. of the iSi^ge of Ostend, fol. 23. _ * Erasmus
<Je bello. tit placidum illad animal benevolentiae natum tam ferina vecordia in
mutuam rueret pemiciem. * Rich. Dinoth, preefet. .Belli civilis Gal. 1 Jo-
vins. u Dolus, asperitas, injustitia, propria bellormn negotia. Tertul.
x T.ully. y Lucan.
44
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
Nothing so common as to have z father fight against the son,
brother against brother, kinsman against kinsman, kingdom
against kingdom, province against province, Christians against
Christians, a quibus nec unquam cogitatione fuef'unt Icesi, of
whom they never had offence in thought, word, or deed.
Infinite treasures consumed, towns burned, flourishing cities
sacked and ruinated — quodque animus meutdnisse horret , goodly
countries depopulated and left desolate, old inhabitants ex¬
pelled, trade and trafiick decayed, maids deflowered,
Virgines nondum thalamis jugatse,
Et comis nondum positis ephebi ;
chaste matrons cry out with Andromache, * Coneubitum most
cogarpati ejus, qui inter emit Hector em, they shall be com¬
pelled peradventure to lye with them that erst killed their
husbands — to see rich, poor, sick, sound, lords, servants,
eodem omnes incommodo mactati, consumedall or maimed, &c.
et quidquid gaudens scelere animus audet, et perversa mens,
saith Cyprian, and whatsoever torment, misery, mischief, hell
it self, the devil, afury and rage can invent to their own
ruine and destruction: so abominable a thing b is war, as,
Gerbelius concludes — ade&foeda et abominanda res est helium,
ex quo hominum caedes, vastationes. Sec. — the scourge of God,
cause, effect,, fruit and punishment of sin, and not tonsura
humani generis, as Tertullian calls it, but ruina. Had Demo¬
critus been present at the late civil wars in France, those
abominable wars,
( — --bellaque matribus detestata)
e where in less than ten years, ten hundred thousand men were
consumed, saith Collignius, 20 thousand churches overthrown,
nay the whole kingdom subverted, (as d Richard Dinoth adds)
so many myriads of the commons were butchered up, with
sword, famine, war, tanto odio utrinque, ut barbari ad ab-
horrendam lanienam obstupescereni, with such feral hatred,
the world was amazed at it — or at our late Pharsalian fields in
the time of Henry the Sixth, betwixt the houses of Lancaster
and York; an hundred thousand men slain, # one writes, e an¬
other, ten thousand families were rooted out, that no man can
but marvel, (saith Comineus,) at that barbarous immanity,
z Pater in filium, affinis in affinem, amicus in amicum, &c. Regio cum
regione, regnum regno colliditnr, populus populo, in mutuam perniciem, bel-
luarum instar sanguinolente ruentium. * Labanii declam. a Ira enim et
furor Bellonae consultores, &c. dementes sacerdotes sunt. b Bellum quasi
bellua, et ad omnia scelera furor immissus. c GaUorum decies centum millia
ceciderunt, ecclesiarum 20 millia fundamentis excisa. d Belli civilis Gal. 1. 1.
hoc ferali bello et csedibus omnia repleverunt, et regnum amplissimum a fundamen¬
tis pene everterunt : pie bis tot myriades gladio, bello, fame, miserabiliter perierunt.
* Pont. Huterus. e Comineus. Ut nullus non execretur et admiretur crudeli-
tatem, et barbaram, insanium, qua inter homines eodem sub coelo natos, ejusdem
linguae, sanguinis, religionis, exercebatur. —
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
45
feral madness, committed between men of the same nation ,
language, and religion. eQuis furor, O cives ? Why do the
gentiles so furiously rage ? saith the prophet David, Psal. 2. 1.
But we may ask, why do the Christians so furiously rage ?
* Arma volant, quare, poscunt, rapiuntque j uventus ?
Unfit for gentiles, much less for us, so to tyrannize, as the
Spaniards in the West Indies, that killed up in 42 years (if we
may believe f Bartholomssus a Casa their own bishop,) 12
millions of men, with stupend and exquisite torments ; neither
should 1 lye, (said he) if I said 50- millions. T omit those
French massacres, Sicilian evensongs., § the duke of Alva’s
tyrannies; our gun-powder machinations, and that fourth Fury
(as 11 one calls it), the Spanish inquisition, which quite ob¬
scures those ten persecutions—
- * sievit toto Mars'impius orbe. -
Is not this k mundusfuriosus, a mad world, as he terms it, insa-
num helium £ are not these mad men, as * Scaliger concludes,
qui in pr celia, acerb a morte, insanice suae memoriam pro per-
petuo teste relinquunt posteritaii,-— •which leave so frequent
battels, as perpetual memorials of their madness to all succeed¬
ing ages? Would this, think you, have enforced ourDemocritus
to laughter, or rather made him turn his tune, alter his tone,
and weep with 1 Heraclitus, or rather howl, m roar, and tear his
hair, in commiseration — stand amazed ; or as the poets faign,
that Niobe was for grief quite stupified, and turned to a stone ?
1 have not yet said the worst. That which is more absurd and
“mad— in their tumults, seditions, civil and unjust wars, °quod
stulte suscipitur, impie geritur > miser e finitur — such wars, I
mean ; for all are not to be condemned, as those phantastical
Anabaptists vainly conceive. Our Christian tacticks are, all
out, as necessary as the Roman acres, or Grecian phalanx.
To be a souldier is a most noble and honourable profession, (as
the world is) not to be spared. They areour best walls and bul¬
warks ; and I do therefore acknowledge that of * Tully to be
most true. All our civil affairs, all our studies , all our plead¬
ing, industry , and commendation, lies under the protection of
warlike vertues ; and, whensoever there is any suspicion of tu-
e Lucan. *Yirg. f Bishop of Casco, an eye witness. SiRead Mete-
ran, of his stupend cruelties. - h Heinsius, Austriac. . * Virg. Georg.
k Jansenius Gallobelgicus, 1598- Mundas furiosus, inscriptio libri. * Bxercitat.
250. serin. 4. ■Meat Heraclitus', an radieat Democritus ? ra Curse leves lo-
qunntur, ingentes stupent. n Arma amens capio, nec sat rationis in armis.
° Erasmus. * Pro Murasna. O rones urban® res, omnia studia, omnis forensis
laus et industria latet in tutela et prassido bellicae virtutis ; et, simul atque.increpuit
suspicio.tumultus, artes illico nostras conticescunt.
46
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
mult , all our arts cease: wars are most belioveful ; et bella-
tores agricolis civitati sunt uiiliores, as * Tyrius defends : and
valour is rnueli to be commended in a wise man ; but they mis¬
take most part : auferre, trucidare, rapere Jhlsis nominibus
virtutem vocant, %-c. (’Twas Galgacus observation in Tacitus)
they term theft, murder, and rapine, vertue, by a wrong name :
rapes, slaughters, massacres, &c. jocus et Indus, are pretty
pastimes, as Ludovicus Vives notes, p They commonly call the
most hair-brain blood-suckers, strongest thieves, the most des¬
perate villains, trecherous rogues, inhumane murderers, rash,
cruel and dissolute caitiff's, courageous and generous spirits ,
heroical and worthy captains, ^ brave men at arms, valiant and
renowned souldiers, possessed with a brute perswasion of false
honour, asPontus Huter in bis Burgundian history complains :
by means of which, it comes to pass that daily so many vo¬
luntaries offer themselves, leaving their sweet wives, children,
friends, — for sixpence (if they can get it) a day, prostitute their
lives and limbs, desire to enter upon breaches, lye sentinel,
perdue, give the first onset, stand in the fore-front of thebattel,
marching bravely on, with a cheerful noise of drums and
trumpets, such vigour and alacrity , so many banners streaming
in the ayr, glittering armours, motions of plumes, woods
of pikes, and swords, variety of colours, cost and magnifi¬
cence, as if they went in triumph, now victors, to the Capitol,
and with such pomp, as when Darius army marched to meet
Alexander at Issus. Yoid of all fear, they run into eminent
dangers, canons mouth, he. ut vulneribus suis ferrum hos-
tium hebetent, saith r Barletius, to get a name of valour,
honour and applause, which lasts not neither; for it is but a
mere flash, this fame, and, like a rose, intra diem unum extin-
guitur, ’tis gone in an instant. Of 15000 proletaries slain in
a battel, scarce fifteen are recorded in history, or one alone,
the general perhaps ; and after a while, his and their names
are likewise blotted out ; the whole battel it self is forgotten.
Those Grecian orators, summd vi ingenii et eloquentice, set
out the renowned overthrows at Thermopylce, Salamine,
Marathon , My cole, Mantinea, Cheer onea, Platea : the
Romans record their battel at Gannas, and Pharsalian fields ;
but they do but record ; and we scarce hear of them. And yet
this supposed honour, popular applause, desire of immortality '
by this means, pride and vain-glory, spurs them on many times
* Ser. 13. PCrudelissimos ssevissimosque latrones, fortissimos
propugnatores, fidelissimos duces, habent, bruta persuasions donati. qEo-
banus Hessus. Quibus omnis in armis Vita placet, non ulla juvat, nisi morte ;
nec ullam Esse putant vitam, quas non assaeverit armis. r Lib, 10. vit. Scan-
derbeg.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
47
rashly and unadvisedly to make away themselves and mul¬
titudes of others. Alexander was sorry, because there were
no more worlds for him to conquer : he is admired by some for
it : animosa vox videtur, et regia : ’twas spoken like a prince :
but (as wise s Seneca censures him) ’twas vox iniquissima et
stultissima: ’twas spoken like a bedlam fool ; and that sen¬
tence which the same t Seneca appropriates to his father Philip
and him, I apply to them . all — Non minores fuere pestes
mortalium quam inundatio, quam conjiagratio , quibis, Src.
they did as much mischief to mortal men, as fire and water,
those merciless elements when they rage. "Which is yet
more to be lamented, they perswade them this hellish course
of .life is holy : they promise heaven to such as venture their
lives hello sacro, and that, by these bloody wars, (as Persians,
Greeks, and Romans of old, as modern Turks do now their
commons, to encourage them to fight, nt cadant infieliciter,')
if they die in the field, they go directly to heaven, and shall
be canonized for saints, (O diabolical invention !) put in the
chronicles, in perpetuam rei memoriam, to their eternal
memory; when as in truth, as xsome hold it, it were much
better (since wars are the scourge of God for sin, by which he
punisheth mortal mens pievishness and folly) such brutish
stories were suppressed, because ad morurn instituiionem nihil
habent, they conduce not at all to manners, or good life. But
they will have it thus nevertheless ; and so they put a note
of J divinity upon the most cruel and pernicious plague of hu¬
mane kind, adorn such men with grand titles, degrees, statues,
images — z honour, applaud and highly reward them for their
good service — no greater glory than to dye in the field ! So
Africanus is extolled by Ennius': and Mars,ahd "Hercules, and
I know not how many besides, of old w ere deified, went this
way to heaven, that were indeed bloody butchers, wicked
destroyers, and troublers of the world, prodigious monsters,
hell-hounds, feral plagues, devourers, common executioners of
humane kind, (as Ractantius truly proves, and Cyprian to
Donat) such as were desperate in wars, and precipitately made
r s Nulli beatiores habiti, quam qui in proeliis cecidissent. Brisonius, de rep.
Persarum. h 3. fol. 3. 44. Idem Lactantius de Romanis et Grsecis. Idem Ammi-
anus, lib. 23. de Parthis. Judicatur is sola's beatus apud eos, qui in proelio fude-
rit animam. De Benef. lib. 2. c. 1. ‘Nat. quasst. lib. 3, “ Boterus Amphitri-
drion. Busbequius, Turc. hist. Per cades et sanguinem patere hominibus ascensum
in -coelom putant. Lactant. de falsa relig. 1.1. cap. 8. xQuoniam bella -acer-
bissima Dei flagella sunt, qui bus hominum pertinaciam ponit, ea perpetua
oblivione sepelienda potius quam memoriae mandanda plerique judicant. Rich.
Dinoth. praef. hist. Gail. y Cruentam humani generis pesteni et perniciem
divinitatis nota insigniunt. zEt (quod dolendum) applansum habent et occur -
sum viri tales. a Herculi eadem porta ad coelum patuit, qui magnam generis
humani partem perdidit.
48
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
away themselves, like those Celtes in Damascen, with ridicu¬
lous valour, ui dedecorosum putarent muro ruenti se subdu-
cere, a disgrace to run away from a rotten wall, now ready to
fall on Their heads. Such as will not rush on a swords point,
or seek to shun a canons shot, are base cowards, and no
valient men. By which means, Madet orbis mutuo sanguine %
the earth wallows in her own blood : a Scevit amor ferri et
scelerata insania belli ; and for that, which if it be dona in .
private, a man shall be rigorously executed, b and which is
no less than murder it self if the same fact be done in publick
in wars, it is called manhood and the party is honoured for it.
• - c prosjterum etfelix scelus virtus vocaiur—W e measure
all, as Turks do, by the event ; and, most part, as Cyprian
notes, in all ages, countreys, places, scevitice magnitudo im-
punitatem sceleris acquirit — the foulness of the fact vindi¬
cates the offender. dOne is crowned foy that which another
is tormented,'
(Ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit, hie diadema)
made a knight, a lord, an earl, a great duke, (as e Agrippa
notes) for which another should have hung in gibbets, as a
terror to the rest—
- - — . — — f et tamen alter.
Si fecisset idem, caderet subjudic,e morrnn.
A poor sheep-stealer is hanged for stealing of victuals, com¬
pelled peradventure by necessity of that intolerable cold,
hunger, and thirst, to save himself from starving : but a "great
man in office may securely rob whole provinces, undo thousands,,
pill and pole, oppress ad libitum, fley, grind, tyrannize, enrich
himself by spoils of the commons, be uncontrollable in his
actions, and, after all, be recompensed with turgent titles,
honoured for his good service ; and no man dare find fault,
or h mutter at it.
How Would our Democritus have been affected, to see a
wicked caitiff, or ifool, a very ideot, a funge, a golden
ass, a monster of man, to have many good men, wise men ,
a Virg-. iEneid. 7. bHomicidium quuru committunt singuii, crimen est,
qunm publice geritur, virtus vocatur. Cyprianus. c Seneca. '<) Juyen. e De
vardt. scient. de priucip. aobilitatis. f Juven. Sat 4. Pansa rapit, quodNatta
reliquit — Tu, pessimus omnium latro es, as Demetrius the pyrat told Alexander,
in . Curtins. hNoa ausi mutire, &c. JEsop. ‘ 5 Improbum et stultum,
si divitem, mpltos bonos viros in servitute habentem, (ob id duntaxat quod.ei contingat
aureorum numismatum cumulus) ut appendices et additamenta numismatum. Morns,
Utopia. ! ,
49
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
learned men to attend upon him with all submission, as an
appendix to his riches, for that respect aloud, because he hath
more wealth and money, aand to honour him with divine titles,
and humbast epithets, to smother Mm with fumes and eulo¬
gies, whom they knew to be a dizard, a fool, a covetous
wretch, a beast, &c. because he is rich /—to see sub exuviis
leonis onagrum, a filthy loathsome carkass, a Gorgons head
puffed up by parasites, assume thus Unto himself glorious titles,
in worm an infant, a Cuman ass, ' a painted sepulchre, an
Egyptian temple ! — to see a withered face, a diseased, de¬
formed, cankered complexion, a rotten carkass, a viperous
mind, and Epicurean soul, set out with orient pearls, jewels,
diadems, perfumes, curious, elaborate works, as proud of his
clothes as a child of his new coats- — and a goodly person, of
an angelick divine countenance, a saint, an humble mind, a
meek spirit clothed in rags, beg, and now ready to be starved !
— to see a silly contemptible sloven in apparel, ragged in his
coat, polite in speech, of a divine spirit, wise ! another neat
in clothes, spruce j full of courtesie, empty of grace, wit, talk
non-sense S
To see so many lawyers, advocates, so many tribunals, so
little justice : so many magistrates, so little care- of common
good ; so many laws, yet never more disorders— tribunal
lithm Segetem, the tribunal a labyrinth— so many thousand
suits in one court sometimes, so violently followed ! — to see
infustissimum scepe juri prcesidektum , impihm religioni, im-
periiissimum eruditioni, biiosissimum labori, mohstrosulnhu-
manitati / To see a Iamb b executed, a Woolf pl’dhounce sen¬
tence, Latro arraigned, and Fur sit on the bench, the judge
severely punish others, and do worse himself, c eimdem fur-
turn facere et punire, d rapinam pleciere, quum sit ipse
raptor /—Laws altered, misconstrued, interpreted pro and con,
as the e judge is made by friends, bribed, or otherwise affected
as a nose of wax, good to-day, none to-morrow ; or firm in his
opinion, cast in his ! Sentence prolonged, changed, ad ar-
bitriumjudicis ; still the same case, f one thrust out of his in¬
heritance, another falsly put in by favour, false forged deeds
or wills. Incises leges negligmitur, laws are made and not
kept; or, if put in execution, § they be some silly ones that are
a Eorumque detestantur Utiopienses insaniam, qui.divinqs honores iis impendunt,
quos sordidos et avaros agnoscunt ; non alio respecta honorantes, quamquod dites
sint. Idem. lib. 2. bCyp. 2. ad Donat. ep ut reus innocens pereaf, fitnocens.
Judex . damnat foris, qnod intus operatur. c Sidonius Apo. d Salvianqs, 1. 3.
de provid. “Ergo judicium nihil est nisi publica merces. Petronius. Quid
faciant leges, ubi sola pecunia regnat ? Idem. fflic arceutur hseredita-
tibus liberi ; hie donatur bonis alienis ; falsum consulit ; alter testamentum comunpit,
&c. Idem. s Vexat ceusura columbas.
VOL. I. E
50
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
punished. As, put case it to be fornication, the father will dis¬
inherit or abdicate his child, quite casheer him (out villain ! be
gone! come no more in my sight) : a poor man is miserably
tormented with loss of his estate perhaps, goods, fortunes,
good name, for ever disgraced, forsaken, and must do penance
to the utmost : — a mortal sin 1 and yet, make the worst of it,
numquid aliud fecit, saith Tranio in the a poet, nisi quodfaci-
unt summis nati generibus ; he hath done no more than what
gentlemen usually do —
(b Neque novum, neque mirum, neque secus quam alii 'solent)
for, in a great person, right worshipful sir, a right honourable
grandee, ’tis not a venial sin, no not & peccadillo : ’tis no of¬
fence at all, a common and ordinary thing: no man takes
notice of it ; he justifies it in publick, and perad venture brags
of it ;
c Nam quod turps bonis, Titio, Seioque, decebat
Grispinum - - — — —
d many poor men, younger brothers, &c. by reason of bad
policy, and idle education (for they are, likely, brought up in
no calling), are compelled to beg or steal, and then hanged for
theft; than which, what can be more ignominious ? non minus
enim turpe principi multa supplicia, quam medico mult a
funer a : ’tis the governours fault, Libentius verber ant quam
docent, as school-masters do rather correct their pupils, than
teach them when they do amiss. e They had more need
provide there should be no more thieves and beggars, as they
ought jvith good policy, and take away the occasions, than
let them run on, as they do, to their own destruction — root out
likewise those causes of wrangling, a multitude of lawyers, and
compose controversies, lites lustrales et secular es, by some
more compendious means ; whereas now, for every toy and
trifle, they go to law, ( %Mugit litibus insanum forum, et scevit.
invicem discordantium rabies) they are ready to pull out
one anothers throats ; and, for commodity g to squeeze; blood
(saith Hieorum) out of their brothers hearts, defame, lye, dis¬
grace, backbite, rail, bear false witness, swear,, forswear, fight
and wrangle, spend their goods, lives, fortunes, friends, undo
one another, to enrich an harpy advocate, that preys upon
them both, and eryes> eia, Socrates ! eia , Xanthippe ! or some
a Plant. Mostel. b Idem. c Juven. Sat. 4. d Quod tot smt fures
et mendici, magistratuum culpa fit, qui malos imitantur prEBceptore,>3, qtri discipulos
libentius verberant quam docent. Morus, Utop. lib. 1. <■ Decernunter furi
gravia et borrenda supplicia, quum potius providendum multo foret ne fures
sint, ne cuiquam tain dira furandi aut perenndi sit necessitas. ' Idem. fBo-
terus, de augmen. urb. lib. 3. cap. 3. sE fraterno eorde sanguinem eli-
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
51
corrupt judge, that like the akite in iEsop, while the mouse
and frog fought, earryed both away. Generally they prey one
upon another, as so many ravenous birds, brute beasts, devour¬
ing fishes : no medium ; omnes b Me aut eaptantur aut captant ;
aut cadavera quee lacerantur, aut corvi qui lacerant — either
deceive or be deceived— tear others, or be torn in pieces them¬
selves ; like so many buckets in a well, as one riseth, another
falleth ; one’s empty another’s full ; his ruine is a ladder to the
third; such are our ordinary proceedings. What’s the market?
a place (according to c Anacharsis) wherein they cozen one
another, a trap ; nay, wliat’s the world it self? d a vast chaos, a
confusion of manners, as fickle as the air, domicilium insano-
rum , a turbulent troop full of impurities, a mart of walking
spirits, goblins, the theatre of hypocrisie, a shop of knavery,
flattery, a nursery of villany, the scene of b aiding, the school
of giddiness, the academy of vice ; a warfare ubi ( veils, nolis )
pugnandum; ant vincas out succumhas ; in which kill or be
killed ; wherein every man is for himself, his private ends, and
stands upon his own guard. No charity, elove, friendship,
fear of God, alliance, affinity, consanguinity, Christianity,
can contain them ; but if they be any wayes offended, or that
string of commodity be touched, they fail foul. Old friends
become bitter enemies on a suddain, for toyes and small of¬
fences ; and they that erst were willing to do all mutual offices
of love and kindness, now revile, and persecute one another
to death, with more than Vatinian hatred, and will not be
reconciled. So long as they are behoveful, they love, or may
bestead each other; but, when there is no more good to be
expected, as they do by an old dog, hang him up or casheer
him ; which f Cato counts a great indecorum , to use Men like
old shoos or broken glasses, which are flung to the dunghilf
he could not find in his heart to sell, an ox, much less, to
turn away an old servant : but they in stead of recompence,
revile him; and when they have made him an instrument of
their villany, (as sBajazet the second, emperor of theTurks,did
by Acomethes Bassa) make him away, or, in stead of h reward,'
hate him to death, as Silius was served by Tiberius. In a
word, every man for his own ends. Our summum bonum is
* Milvus rapit ac deglubit. bPetronius, de Crotone civit. c Quid forum ? ~
locus quo alius alium circumvenit. ^Vastum chaos, larvarum emporium, thea-
trum hypocrisios,' &c. e Nemo coelum, nemo jusjurandum, nemo Jovem, pluris
facit ; sed onmes apertis oculis bona sua computant. Petrou. fPlutarch. vit.
ejns. Indecorum animatis at calceis uti aut vitris, quas, ubi fracta, abjicimus ; nam,
nt de miepso dicam, nee bovem senem yendiderim, nedum hominemT natu grandem,
laboris socium. sJovins. Cuminnumera illins beneficia rependere non possit aliter,
mterfici jussit. h Beneficia eousque lata sunt, dum videntur solvi posse : ubi
' in ill turn antevenere, pro gratia edium redditur. Tac.
E 2
52
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
commodity ; and the goddess we adore; Dea morietd, queen
money, to whom we daily offer sacrifice ; which steers our
hearts, hands, a affections all — that most powerful goddess,
by whom we are reared, depressed, elevated, ^esteemed the sole
commaudress of our actions — for which we pray, run, ride,
go, come, labour, and contend as fishes do for a crum that
falleth into the water. Jfis not worth fvertue, (that’s honumthe-
atrale) wisdom, valour, learning, honesty, religion, of any
sufficiency, for which we are respected, but c money, greatness,
office, honour, authority. Honesty is accounted folly; knavery,
policy; d men admired out of opinion, not as they are, but as
they seem to he : such shifting, lying, cogging, plotting coun¬
terplotting, temporizing, flattering, cozening, dissembling,
e that of necessity one must highly offend God, if he be con¬
formable to the world , (Cretizare cum Crete) or else live in
contempt, disgrace, and misery. One takes upon him. tem¬
perance, holiness ; another, austerity ; a third, an affected kind
of simplicity ; when as indeed he, and he, and he, and the rest,
are f hypocrites, ambodexters, out-sides, so many turning pic¬
tures, a « lion on the one side, a lamb on the other. How
would Democritus have been affected to see these things ?
To see a inan turn himself into all shapes like a camelionj Or,
as ^roteus, omnia transf ormans sese in miracula rerum, to
act twenty parts and persons at once, for his advantage— to
temporize and vary like Mercury the planet, good with good,
bad with bad ; having a several face, garb, and character for
every one he meets— of all religions, humours, inclinatidhs-v-to
fawn like a spaniel, mentitis et mimicis ohsequiis, rage like
a lion, bark like a cur, fight like a dragon, sting like a ser¬
pent, as meek as a lamb, and yet again grin like a tygre,
weep like a crocodile, insult over some, and yet others domi¬
neer o ver him, here command, there crouch ; tyrannize in one
place', be baffled in another ; a wise man at home, a fool abroad
to make others merry.
To see so much difference betwixt words and deeds, so
many parasanges betwixt tongue and heart— men, like stage-
players, act variety of parts, h give good precepts to others to
Soar aloft, wildest they themselves grovel on the ground.
,a Paucis carior est fides quam pecunia. Sallust. t> Pritua fere votn et
ciniciis, &c. c Et genus et formam regina pe.cunia donat. Quantum quisque '
stia nummorum servut in arefL, Tantinn habet etfidei, d Non a peritia, sed>
ab omatu er vulgi vocibus, habemur excellentes. Cardan 1. 2. de cons. e Per-
jurata sno postponit numina lucro Mercator.— U t necessajium sit vel Deo displicere,
vel ab hominibus contemni, vexari, negligi.. fQui Curios simulant, et
Bacchanalia vi yuiit. sTragelapbo similes vel Centauris, sursum homines,
deorsum equi. h Praeceptis suis ccelum promittunt, ipsi interim pulveris terreni
vilia mancipia.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
53
To see a man protest friendship, kiss his hand, a quern
mallet truncatum videre, b smile with an intent to do mischief,
or cozen him whom he salutes, c magnifle his friend unworthy
with hyberbolical elogiums — his enemy albeit a good man,
to vilifie, and disgrace him, yea, all his actions, with the utmost
livor and malice he can invent.
To see a d servant able to buy out his master, him that car¬
ries the mace more worth than the magistrate ; which Plato
(lib, 11. de leg.) absolutely forbids, Epictetus abhors. An
horse that tills the eland fed with chaff, an idle jade have
£ro vender in abundance ; him that makes shoos go hare-foot
imself, him that sells meat almost pined; a toiling drudge
starve, a drone flourish.
To see men buy smoke for wares, castles built with fools
heads, men like apes follow the fashions, in tires, gestures,
actions : if the king laugh, all laugh ;
— — - f Rides ? majore cachinno
Corieutitur : flet, si lacrymas conspexit amici.
g Alexander stooped : so did his courtiers : Alphonsusjnrned
his bead; and so did his parasites. h Sabina Poppeea, Neros
wife, wore amber-colour’d hair ; so did all the Roman ladies
in an instant; her fashion was theirs.
To see men wholly led by affection, admired and censured
out of opinion without judgement : an inconsiderate multitude;,
like so many Hogs in a village, if one ' bark, all bark without
a cause : as fortunes fan turns, if a man be in favour, or com¬
mended by some great one, all the world applauds him: iif
in disgrace, in . an instant all hate him, and as the sun when
beds eclipsed, that erst took no notice, now gaze, and stare
upon him. '
To see a k man wear his brains in his belly, his guts in his
head, an hundred oaks on his back, to devour an hundred
oxen at a meal ; nay more, to devour houses and towns, ;or
as those anthropophagi, xto eat one another.
To see a man roll himself up, like a .snow-ball, from base beg¬
gary to right worshipful and right honourable titles, unjustly to
1 iEneas Sylv. b Arridere homines, ut sseviant : blandiri ut fallant. Cyp*
ad Donatum. _ 0 Love and hate are like the two ends of a perspective glass:
the one multiplies ; the other makes less. d Ministri locupletiores iis quibus
ministratur ; servus majores opes habens quam patronus. e Qni terram colunt,
eqni paleis pascuntur ; qni otiantur, caballi a vena saginantur : discalceatas discurrit,
quicalceos aliis facit. fJnven. sBodin. lib. 4. de repub. c. 6. i>Piinius,
1. 37. c. 3. Capillos habuit snccineos : exinde factum ut Omnes puellae Homaniae colorem
ilium affeitarent 5 Odit damnatos. Juv. k Agrippa ep. 28. 1. 7.- Quorum
cerebrum est in ventre, ingeniuin in patinis, . . > Psa). They eat up my people
as bread. V ‘ • .
54
, DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
screw himself into honours and offices; another to starve his
genius, damn his soul, to gather wealth, which he shall not en¬
joy, which his prodigal ason melts and consumes in an. instant.
To see the xaxo&faxv of our times, a man bend all his forces,
means, time, fortunes, to he afavourites favouritesfavourite,&c.
a parasites parasites parasite, that may scorn the servile world,
as having enough already.
To see an hirsutebeggars brat, that lately fed on scraps, crept
and whin’d, crying to all, and for an old jerkin ran of errands,
now ruffle in silk and satten, bravely mounted, jovial and
polite, now scorn his old friends and familiars, neglect his
kindred, insult over his betters, domineer over all.
To see a scholar crouch and creep to an illiterate peasant
for a meals meat ; a scrivener better paid for an obligation,
a faulkner receive greater wages than a student ; a lawyer get
more in a day, than a philosoper in a year ; better reward for
an hour, than a scholar for a twelve moneths study ; him that
can b paint Thais, play on a fiddle, curl hair, &c. sooner get
preferment than a philologer or a poet.
To see a fond mother, like iEsops ape, hug her child to death,
a c wittal wink at his wives honesty, and too perspicuous in all
other affairs; one stumble at a straw, and leap over a block;
rob Peter, and pay Paul ; scrape unjust summs with one hand,
purchase great mannors by corruption, fraud, and cozenage,
and liberally to distribute to the poor with the other, give a
remnant to pious uses, &c — penny wise, pound foolish ; blind
men judge of colours ; wise men silent, fools talk; d find fault
with others, and do worse themselves ; e denounce that in
public which he doth in secret; and (which Aurelius Victor
gives out of Augustus) severely censures that in a third, of
which he is most guilty himself.
To see a poor fellow, or an hired servant, venture his life for
his new master, that will scarce give him his wages at years
end ; a countrey colone toil and moil, till and drudge for a pro¬
digal idle drone, that devours all the gain, or lasciviously con¬
sumes with phantastical expences ; a noble man in a bravado
to encounter death, and, for a small flash of honour, to cast
away himself ; a worldling tremble at an executor, and yet not
fear hell-fire ; to wish and hope for immortality, desire to be
a Absumet hseres Caecuba dignior' servata centum davibus, et mero distinguet
pavimentum superbis pontificum potiore coenis. Hor. *> Qui Thai'dem pingere, inflare
tibiam, crispare crines. cDoctus spectare lacunar. d Tullius. Est enim proprinm
stultitise aliornm cernere vitia, oblivisci suoruin. Idem Aristippus Charidemo apud
Lucianum. Omnino stultitia3 enjusdam esse puto, &c. e Execrari pnblice quod
occalte agat. Salvianus, lib. de pro. Acres nlciscendis vitiis quibus ipsi vehementer
indulgent.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
55
haPPy* and yet by all means avoid death, a necessary passage
to bring him to it. *
To see a fool-hardy fellow, like those old Danes, qui decol-
lari nialunt quam verberari , dye rather than be punished, in
a sottish humour imbrace death with alacrity, a yet scorn to
lament his own sins and miseries, or his dearest friends de¬
parture.
To see wise men degraded, fools preferred, one govern
towns and cities, and yet a silly woman over-rules him at
home ; command a province, and yet his own b servants or
children prescribe laws to him, as Themistocles son did in
Greece ; c What I will (said he) my mother will, and what
my mother will, my father doth. To see horses ride in a
coach, men draw it; dogs devour their masters ; towers build
masons; children rule ; old men go to school ; women wear
the breeches ; dsheep demolish towns, devour men, &c. and
in a word, the world turned upside downward. O ! viveret
Democritus!
e To insist in every particular, were one of Hercules labours ;
there’s so many ridiculous instances, as motes in the sun.
Quantum est in rebus inane ! And who can speak of all ?
Crimine ah uno disce omnes ; take this for a taste.
But these are obvious to sense, trivial and well known, easie
to be discerned. How would Democritus have been moved,
had he seen f the secrets of their hearts ! If every man had a
window in his breast, which Momus would havehad in Vulcan’s
man, or (that which Tully so much wisht) it were written
in every mans forehead, Quid quisque de republica sentiret,
what he thought; or that it could be effected in an instant,
which Mercury did by Charon in Lucian, by touching of his
eyes, to make him discern semel et simul rumores et susurros,
Spes hominum csecas, morbos, votumque, labores,
Et passim toto volitantes eethere curas —
Blind hopes and wishes, their thoughts and affairs.
Whispers and rumours, and those flying cares —
* Adamus, eccl. hist. cap. 212. Siquis damnatus fuerit, Isetus esse gloria est ; nam
lacrymas, etplanctam, cseteraque compunctionumgenera,qu8e nos salnbria censemus,ita
abominatnr Dani, ntnec pro peccatis nec pro defnnctis amieis ulli flere liceat. bOrbi
dat leges foris, vix famnlum regit sine strepitu domi. c Quidqoid ego volo, hoc vnlt
mater me a, et quod mater vnlt, facit pater. d Oves, olim mite pecus, nunc tarn
indomitum et edax, ut homines devorent, &c. Morus.Utop. lib. 1. eDiversos
variis tribuit natura furores. f Democrit. ep. prsed. Hos dejerantes et potantes
deprehendet, hos vomentes,illos litigantes, insidias molientes, sufiragantes venena mis-
centes, in amicorum accusationem subscribentes, hos gloria,illos ambitione, cupiditate,
mente captos, &c.
56
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
that he could cubiculorum obducfas fores recludere , et secre-
ta cordium penetrare, (which a Cyprian desired) open doors
and locks, shoot bolts, as Lucians Gallqs did with a feather of
his tail; or Gyt>es invisible ring, or some rare perspective
glass, or otacousticon, which would so multiply species, that
a man might hear and see all at once (as b Biartianus Capellas
Jupiter did in a spear, which he held in his hand, which did
present unto him all that was daily done upon the face of the
earth) observe cuckolds horns, forgeries of afohyifosts, the
philosophers stone, new projectors, &e. and all those works of
darkness, foolish vows, hopes, fears, and wishes, what a deal
of laughter would it have afforded ! He should havp seen
wind-mills, in one mans head, an hornets nest in an other.
Or, had he been present with Iearomenippus in Lucian at
Jupiters whispering place, c and heard one pray for rain, another
for fair weather; one for his wives, another for his fathers
death, &c, to ask that at Gods hand, which they are abashed
any man should hear; how would we have been' confounded.!,
would he, think you, or any man else, say jbat these jnen
were well in their wits ?
Haec sapi esse hominis qui sanus juret Orestes,?
pan all the hellebore in the Anticyras care these men ? No,
sure, d an acre of %ellebore will not do it.
That which is more to be lamented, they are mad like Se¬
necas blind woman, and will not acknowledge, or e seek for
any cure of it ; for pauci vident morhim suum , omnes qntant.
If bur fleg or arm offend us, we covet by all means possible to
redress it ; f and if we labour of a bodily disease, we send for
a physician ; hut, for the diseases of the mind, we take np no¬
tice of them. Lust harrows us on the one side, envy, anger,
ambition on the other. We are torn in pieces by our passions
as so many wild horses, one in disposition, another in habit ;
one is melancholy, another mad; and which of us all seeks
a Ad Donat, ep. 2. lib. 1. O si posses in specula subiimi constitutus, &c. b Lib.
1. de nup. Pbilol. in qua, qnid singuli nationum populi quotidianis motibus agitarent,
relncebat c O Jupiter ! contingat mihi aurum, hsereditas, &c. Multos da, Jupiter, -
an nos ! Dementia quanta est hominum ! tuypissima yota. Dijf insusurrapt : si quis
admoverit aufem, conticescupt ; et quod scire homines np.innt, Deo najrrant. Senec- .ep.
10. lib. I. d Piantus, Menaecb. Aon potest base res bollebori jngere obtinerier.
e Ecque grayior morbus, quo ignotior periclitaptj. PQuas lajdnnt oculos, iestjjms
demere ; si quid Est animnm, differs curandi tempus in an nuni. H or. = Sicapnt,
criis dqlet, braebium, &c. niedicam accersinms, rente eihoneste, si par etiain indusfei®
in animi morbisponeretur. Job, PeletmsJesuitji, lib. 2. de bum. affec, morboniflwpje
enra. !i Et.quofnsqnisqne tamen esf, qui contra, tot peste.s medicum requirat, vel
segrotare se agnoscai ? ebuliit ira. See. Etnos tamen Kgrqspsse,negai8S.s. Inoolnmes
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
57
for help, doth acknowledge his error, or knows he is sick?
As that stupid fellow put out the candle, because the biting
fleas should not find him ; he shrouds himself in an unknown
habit, borrowed titles, because no body should discern him.
Every man thinks with himself, egomet videor mihi sanus, I
am well, I am wise, and laughs at: others. And ’tis a general
fault amongst them all, that a which our fore- fathers have ap¬
proved, diet, apparel, opinions, humours, customs, manners,
we deride and reject in our time as absurd. l> Old men ac¬
count, juniors all fools, when they are mere dizards ; and {as,
to sailers, -
— — terrseque urbesque recedunt ■
they move ; the land stand still) the world hath much more
wit; they dote themselves. Turks deride us, we them;
Italians Frenchmen, accounting them light headed fellows ;
the French scoff again at Italians, and at their Several cus¬
toms : Greeks have condemned all the world but themselves
of barbarism; the world as much vilifies them now: we ac¬
count Germans heavy, dull fellows, explode many of their
fashions ; they as contemptibly think of us ; Spaniards laugh
at all, and ail again at them. Sc are we fools and ridiculous,
absurd in our actions, carriages, dyet, apparel * customs and
consultations ; c we scoff and point one at another, when as, in
conclusion, all are fools, d and they the veriest asses that hide
their ears most. A private man, if he be resolved with him¬
self, or set on an opinion, account all ideots and asses that
are not affected as he is,
e — —(nil rectum, nisi quod placuit sibi, ducit)
that are not so minded^ f(Quodque vohmt homines, se bene vette
putdni) all fools that think not as he doth. He will not say
with Atticus, suam quisque sponsam, mihi meam, let every
man enjoy his own spouse ; but his alone is fair, sum amor ,
Sfc. and scorns all in respect of himself, ? will imitate noiie,hear
none h but himself, as Pliny said, a law and example to him¬
self. And that which Hippocrates, in his epistle to Dionysius,
reprehended of old, is verified in our times, Quisque in alio
super ftuum .esse censet, ipse . quod non hafcetf nec curat ; that
which he hath not himself dr doth not esteem, he accounts
superfluity, ah idle quality, a mere foppery in another ; like
iEsops fox, when he had lost his fail, would have all his
fellow foxes cut off theirs. The Chinese say that we Euro-
aPr®sens aetas stoltitiam priscis exprcbrat. Bud. de affec. lip. 5. b Senas
pro shiltis liahent .javenes.-Baltli. Cast. ; . c CIotTins accusat mqgcl»as
4 Omnium stultissim} qoi auriculas studiose tegpnt. Sat. Me nip. e Hor. Epist.g.
t Prosper. ' e Staiim“sapia».tJ sta#m,scmrit, nemoein rsvereptpk nerpipepnirni-
tantur, ipsi sibi exemplo. p!iu. ep. lib. 8. ilNulli a%>'i sapere concept, ne
desipere videatnr. A grip.
53 DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
peans have one eye, they themselves two, all the world else is
blind (though aSeaiiger accounts them brutes too, merum
peeus ) : so thou and thy sectaries are only wise, others indiffer¬
ent; the rest, beside themselves, meer ideots and asses. Thus
not acknowledging our own errors and imperfections, we se¬
curely deride others, as if we alone were free, and spectators of
the rest, accounting it an excellent thing, as indeed it is,
aliena optimum frui insanid, to make our selves merry with
other mens obliquities, when as he himself is more faulty than
the rest : mutato nomine, de tefabula narratur : he may take
himself by the nose for a fool ; and, which one calls maximum
stultitice specimen, to be ridiculous to others, and not to per¬
ceive or take notice of it, as Marsyas when he contended with
Apollo, non intelligens se deridiculo haberi, saifh b Apuleius ;
’tis his own cause ; he is a convict mad-man, as c Austin
well infers : In the eyes of wise men and angels he seems like -
one, that to our thinking walks with his heels upwards . So
thou laughest at me, and I at thee, both at a third ; and he re¬
turns that of the poet upon us again, & Hex nihi ! iusanire
me aiunt, quum ipsi ultra insaniant. We accuse others of mad¬
ness, of folly, and are the veriest dizards our selves : for it is
a great sign and property of a fool (which Eccl. 10. 3. points
at), out of pride and self-conceit, to insult, vilifie, condemn,
censure, and call other men fools (JVbn videmus manticce quod
a tergo est), to tax that in others, of which we are most faulty ;
teach that which we follow not our selves; for an inconstant
man to write of constancy, a prophane liver prescribe rules of
sanctity and piety, a dizard himself make aAreatise of wis¬
dom, or, with Sallust, to rail down-right, at spoilers of coun¬
treys, and yet in e office to be a most grevious poller himself.
This argues weakness, and is an evident sign of such parties
indiscretion. f Peccat uter nostrum cruce dignius ? Who is
the fool now ? Or else peradventure in some places we are s all
mad for company ; and so ’tis not seen : societas erroris et
dementice pariter absurdfatem et admirationem tollit. ’Tis
with us, as it was of old (fn hTullies censure at least) with C.
Fimbria in Rome, a bold, hair-brained, mad fellow, and so
esteemed of all, such only excepted, that were as mad as him¬
self : now in such a case there is no notice taken of it.
a Omnis orbis . . . ... a Persis ad Lusitanium. b2Florid. c August.
Qnalis in ocnlis hominum qui inversis pedibus ambulat, talis in oculis sapientum et
angelorum qui sibi placet, adt cui passiones dominantur. d Plautus, Mensechmi.
e Govemour of Africk- by Caesars appointment. f Nunc sanitatis patrocinium est
insanientium turba. Seu. s Pro Roscio Amerino. Et, quod inter omnes constat,
insanissimus, nisi inter eos, qui ipsi qnoque insaniunt. h Necesse est cum insani-
entibus furere,. nisi, solus relinqueris, Petronius.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER. 59
Nimirum insanus paucis videatur, eo quod
Maxima pars ho min um morbo jactatur eodem.
When all are mad, where all are like opprest,
Who can discern one mad man from the rest ?
But put the case they do perceive it and some one be mani¬
festly convict of madness ; a he now takes notice of his folly,
be it in action, gesture, speech, a vain humour he hath in
building, bragging, jangling, spending, gaming, courting,
scribling, prating, for which he is ridiculous to others, b on
which he dotes ; he doth acknowledge as much : yet, with all
the rhetorick thou hast, thou canst not so recall him, but, to
the contrary, notwithstanding, he will persevere in his dotage.
’Tis amabilis insania, et mentis gratissimus error, so pleasing,
so delicious, that he c cannot leave it. He knows bis error,
but will not seek to decline it. Tell him what the event will
be, beggary, sorrow, sickness, disgrace, shame, loss, mad¬
ness; yet dan angry man will ■prefer vengeance, a lascivious
his whore, a thief his booty , a glutton his belly, before his
welfare. Tell an epicure, a covetous man, an ambitious
man, of his irregular course ; wean him from it a little, (Poll
me occidistis, amici ! ) he cry es anon, you have undone him ;
and, as e a dog to his vomit, he returns to it again : no per-
swasion will take place, no counsel : say what thou canst,
- Clames, licet, et mare ccelo
Confundas,— — surdo narras :
demonstrate, as Ulysses did to f Elpenorand Gryllus and the
rest of his companions those swinish men, he is irrefragable
in his humour; he will be a hog still : bray him in a morter ;
he will be the same. If he be in an heresie, or some perverse
opinion, settled as some of our ignorant papists are, convince
his understanding, shew him the several follies and absurd
fopperies of that sect, force him to say, veris vincor, make it
as clear as the sun, she will err still, peevish and obstinate
as he is; and as he said, h si in hoc err o, libenter erro, nec
hunc errorem auferri mihi volo ; I will do as I have done,
as my predecessors have done, i and as my friends now do : I
will dote for company. Say now, are these men kmad or
a Qaoniam non est genus unum stultitias, qua me insanire putas ? b Stultum me
fateor, liceat concedere verum, Atque itiayn insanum. Hor. cOdi : nec possum
cupiens non esse quod odi. Ovid. Errore grato libenter omnes insanimus. d Ama-
tor scortum vitae prasponit, iracundus vindictam, fur pradam, parisatus gulam, am-
bitiosus honores, avarus opes, &c. odimus hasc et accersimus. Cardan. 1. 2. de
conso. e Prov. 26. 11. f Plutarch. Gryllo. suilli homines, sic Clem. Alex. vo.
gNon persuadebis, etiamsi persuaseris. h Tally. _ * Malo cum illis insanire,
quasi cum aliis bene sentire. k Qui inter hos enutriuntur, non magis sapere pos-
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
60 ✓
no ? a Hens , age, respond 'e 1 are they ridiculous ? cedo quemvis
arbitrum ; are they same mentis, sober, wise, and discreet ?
have they common sense ?
- buter est insanior horum ?
I am of Democritus opinion, for my part; I hold them worthy
to be laughed at : a company of brain-sick dizards, as mad
as c Orestes and Aihamas, that they may go ride the ass , and
all sail along to the Anti cyras, in the ship of fools, for com¬
pany together. I need not much labour to prove this which
I say, otherwise than thus, make any solemn protestation, or
‘ swear ,* I think you will believe me without an oath ; say at a
word, are they fools ? I refer it to you, though you be likewise
fools and madmen your selves, and I as mad to ask the ques¬
tion : for what said our comical Mercury?
d Justum ab injustis pctere insipientia est.
i’le stand to your censure yet, what think you ?
But, for as much as I undertook at first, that kingdoms,
provinces, families, were melancholy as well as private men,
I will examine them in particular; and that which I have,
hitherto dilated at random, in more general terms, I will par¬
ticularly insist in, prove with more special and evident argu¬
ments, testimonies, illustrations, and that in brief.
— - — - e Nunc accipe, quare
Desipiant omnes seque ac tu.
My first argument is borrowed from Solomon, an arrow
drawn out of his sententious quiver, Prov. 3. 7. be not wise
in thine own eyes. And 26. 12, f Seest thou a man wise in
his own conceit ? niore hope is of a fool than of him. Isaiah
pronounceth a woe against such men, (cap. 5, 21.) that are
wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. For
hence we may gather, that it is a great offence, and men are
much deceived that think too well of themselves, and an espe-
'cial argument to convince them of folly . Many men (saith
? Seneca) had been without question wise, had they not had an
opinion that they had attained to perfection of knowledge air
ready , even before they had gone half way, too forward, too
ripe, jor proper*, too quick and ready, hcito prudentes, cito
pii, cito inariti, cito patres, cito sacer dotes, cito oifinis
officii capaces et curiosi : they had too good a. con?
ceit of themselves, and that marred all — of their worth,
aPersius. b Hor. 2, ser. c Vesanum exagitant pueri, innupfeque puellsa.
d Plantes. eHor 1. 2. sat. 2. ' _f Snperbam steititiam Plinius vocat. 7. ep, 2l>
quodsemel dixi, fixum ratuinqne sit. % Multi sapientes procnldubip fuispent, &
sese non putassent aJ sapientias sammiim pervenisse. h Idem.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER. 61
valour, skill, art, learning, judgement, eloquence, their good
parts : all their geese are swans : and that manifestly proves
them to be no better than fools. In former times they had but
seven wise men ; now you can scarce find so many fools.
Thales sent the golden tripos , which the fisherman found, and
the oracle commanded to be a given to the wisest, to Bias,
Bias to Solon, &c If such a thing were now found, we
should all fight for it, as the three goddesses did for the golden
apple— we are so wise : we have women-politicians, children
metaphysicians : every silly fellow can square a circle, make
perpetual motions, find the philosophers stone, interpret A po-
calypsis, make new theoricks, a new systeme of the world,
new logick, new philosophy, &e. Nostr antique regio, saith
b Petroiiius, our eokntrey is so full of deified spirits, divine
souls , that you may sooner find a God than a man amongst us;
we think so well of our selves, and that is an ample testimony
of much folly. '
My second argument is grounded Upon the like place of
Scripture, which, though before mentioned in effect, yet for
some reasons is to be repeated (and, by Platos good leave, I
may do it: 4 ‘ht rt> y.»Xov pj&v sSev ,0a«btc<) ‘Fools (saith David)
by reason of their transgressions, fye. Psal. 107.17- Hence
Musculus iuferrs, all transgressors must needs be fools; So
we read Kora. 2. Tribulation and anguish on the soul of
every man that doth evil ; but all do evil. And Tsai. 65. 14.
My servants shall sing for joy, and d ye shall cry for sorrow
of heart, and vexation of mind. ’Tis ratified by the: com¬
mon consent of all philosophers. Dishonesty (saith Cardan)
is nothing else but folly and madness. e Pfohus quis nobiscum
vivit? Shew me am honest man. Memo malus, qui non)
stultus : ’tis Fabius aphorism to the same - end. If none
honest, none wise, then all fools. And Well may they be so
accounted: for who will account him otherwise, qui iter
adornat in occidentem, quum proper aret in orieniem f th at goes
backward all his life, westward when he is bound to the east?
or holds him a wise man (saith f Musculus) .that prefers
momentary pleasures to eternity, that spends his masters goods
in his absence, forthwith to be condemned for it ? Necquidquam
sapit, qui sibi non sapit. Who will say that a sick man is
wise, that eats and drinks to overthrow the temperature
of his body ? Can you account him wise or discreet that
aPlutarchus, Solone. Detar sapientidri. bTam praesentibus plena est numinibus,
ntfacilius possis Deum quam hominem invenire. c Pu!clirtim bis dieere non noeet.
d Malefactors. 6 VV ho can find a faithful man ? Prov. 20. 6. fIn Psal. 49. Qui
praefert momentanea sempiternis, qui dilapidat heri absentis bona, mox in jus vocandus
et damnandus.
62
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
would willingly have his health, and yet will do nothing that
should procure or continue it ? aTheodoret, (out of Plotinus
the Platonist) holds it a ridiculous thing for a man to live
after his own laws , to do that which is offensive to God , and
yet to 'hope that he should save him ; and, when he voluntarily
neglects his own safety , and contemns the means, to think
to he delivered by another. Who will say these men are
wise ?
A third argument may be derived from the precedent. b All
men are carried away with passion, discontent, lust, pleasures,
&e. They generally hate those vertues they should love, and
love such vices they should hate Therefore more than melan¬
choly, quite mad, bruit beasts, and void of reason, (soChrysos-
tome contends) or rather dead and buried alive, as c Philo
Judseus concludes itfor a certainty, of all such that are carried
' away withpassions, or labour of any disease of the mind. Where
is fear and sorrow, tlrere (dLactantiusstifly maintains) wisdom
cannot dwell. '
— — qui cupiet, metuet quoque porro.
Qui metuens vivit, liber mihi non erit unquam.
Seneca and the rest of the Stoieks are of opinion, that, where
is any the least perturbation, wisdom may not. be found.
What more ridiculous, (as eLactantius urgeth) than to
hear how Xerxes whipped the Hellespont, threatened the
mountain Athos, and the like? To speak ad rem, who is >.
free from passion? f Mortalis nemo est, quern non attingat
dolor morbusve, (as g Tully determines out of an old poem)
no mortal men can avoid sorrow and sickness ; and sorrow is
an unseparable companion of melancholy. h Chrysostome
pleads farther yet, that they are more than mad, very beasts,
stupified, and void of common sense : for how (saith he)
shall I know thee, to be a man, when thou kickest like an ass ,
neighest like an horse after women, rarest in lust like a hull,
ravenest like a bear , stingest like a scorpion, rakest like a wolf,
a Perquam ridicnlnm est homines ex animi sententia vivere, et, qase Diis in-
grata sunt, exequi, et tamen a solis Diis veile salvos fieri, qunm propri* salutis
curam abjecerint Theod. c. 6. de provid. lib, de curat. Grsec. affecfe b Sa¬
piens, sibi qui imperiosus, &c. Hor. 2. Ser. 7. c Conclus. lib. de vic» offer.
Certum est animi morbis laborantes pro mortuis censendos. d Lib. de sap.
Ubi timor adest, sapientia adesse nequit. e Quid insanius Xerxe Helles-
pontum verberante ? &c. f Eccles. 21. 12- Where is bitterness, -there is no
understanding. Prov. 12. 16. An angry man is a fool. g3 Tusc. Injuria in
sapientem non cadit. h Horn. 6. in 2, Epist. ad Cor. Hpminem te agnoscere
nequeo, cum tamquam' asinns recalcitres, lascivias ut taurus, hinnias nt equus
post mulieres, ut ursus ventri indulgeas, quum rapias ut lupus, &c. At (inquis)
formam hominis habeo. Id" magis territ, qunm feram humana specie videre me
putem.
63
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
as subtile as a fox, as impudent as a dog ? Shall I say thou art
a man, thou hast all the symptomes of a beast ? How shall I
know thee to be a man ? By thy shape ? That affrights me
more, when I see a beast in likeness of a man.
a Seneca calls that of Epicurus, magnificam vocem, an he-
roical speech, a fool still begins to live, and accounts it
a filthy lightness in men, every day today new foundations
of their life : but who doth otherwise ? One travels ; another
builds ; one for this, another for that business ; and old folks
are as far out as the rest : O dementem senectutem ! Tully
exclaims. Therefore young, old, middle age,. all are stupid,
and dote.
b iErieas Sylvius, amongst many others, sets down three
special wayes to find a fool by. He is a fool that seeks that
he can not find; he is a fool that seeks that, which, being found,
will do him more harm than good : he is a fool, that, having
variety of ways tp: bring him to his journ'eys end, takes that
which is worst. If so, me thinks most men are fools. Examine
their courses, and you shall soon perceive what dizards and
mad men the major part are.
Beroalduswiil have drunkards, afternoon-men, and such as
more than ordinarily delight in drink, to be mad. The first
pot quencheth thirst (so Panyasis the poet determines in
Athenaeus ): secunda Gratiis, Horis, et Dionysio — the second
makes merry : the third for pleasure : quarta ad insaniam,
the fourth makes them mad. If this position be true, what
a catalogue of mad men shall we have ! what shall they be
that drink four times four ? Nonne supra omnen furorem,
supra omnem insaniam, reddunt insanissimos ? I am- of his
opinion, they are more than mad, much worse than mad.
The cAbderites condemned Democritus for a mad man, be¬
cause he was sometimes sad, and sometimes again profusely
merry. Hac patrici (saith Hippocrates) bb risumfurere et in -
sanire dicunt : his countrey men hold him mad, because he
laughs ; d and therefore he desires him to advise dll his friends ,
at Rhodes, that they do not laugh too much, or be over sad.
Had those Abderites been conversant with us, and but seen
what e fleering’ and grinning there is in this age, they would
certainly have concluded, we had been all out of our wits.
aEpis{. I. 2. IS. Stultus semper incipit vivere, Foeda hominum levitas ! nova
qaotidie fundamenta vitae ponere, novas spes, &c. bDe curial. miser. Stultus,
qui quarit quod nequit invenire, stultus qui quaerit quod nocet inventum, stultus aui
cum plures Iiabet cailes, deteriorem deligit. Mihi videntur omnes deliri, amentes,
&e. c Ep. Damageto. . d Amicis nostris Rhodi dicito, ne nimium rideant,
aut nimium tristes sint. <= Per multum risum poteris cognoscere stultum,
Offic. 3. c. 9.
64-
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
Aristotle, in his Ethicks, holds, felix idemque sapiens , t obe
wise ami happy, are reciprocal terras. Bonus idemque sapiens
honest us. ’Tis £- Tallies paradox: wise men are free, hut
fools are slaves: liberty is a power to live according- to his
own laws, as we will ourselves. Who hath this liberty?
Who is free?
- - - ——b sapiens sibique imperiosus,
Quern neque pauperies, neqne mors, neque vincula terrent ;
Responsare eupidini'bu's, contemnere honores - •>
For tis, et in seipso totas teres alque rotundas.
He is wise that can command his own will,
Valiant and constant to himself still.
Whom poverty, nor death, nor bands can fright.
Checks his desires, scorns honours, just and right.
But where shall such a man be found ? if no where, then e
diametro, we all- are slaves, senseless, or worse* Nemo malus
felix ; But no man is happy in this life, none good ; therer
fore no man wise. ,
c Rari quippe boni —
For one vertue, you shall find ten vices in the same party —
pauci PrometJiei, multi Epimethei. We may perad venture
usurp the name, or attribute it to others for favour, as Carolus
Sapiens, Philippus Bonus, Ludovieus Pius, &c. and describe
the properties of a wise man, as Tally doth an orator, Xeno¬
phon Cyrus, Castilip a courtier, Galen temperament; an
aristocracy is described by politicians. But where shall such
a man be found ?
Vir bonus et sapiens, qualem vix repperit unum
Millibus e mult is hominum consultus Apollo.
A wise, a good man in a million,
Apollo consulted could scarce find one.
A man is a miracle of himself : but Trismegistus adds, maxi-*
mum miraculum homo sapiens : a wise man is a wonder : multi
thyrsigeri, pauci Bttcchi.
Alexander, when be was presented witbtbatrich and costly
casket of King Darius, and every man advised him what to
put in it, he reserved it to keep Homers works, as the most
precious jewel of humane wit: and yet d Scaliger upbraids
Homers Muse, nutricem insance sapientice, a nursery of
madness, e impudent as a court lady, that blushes at nothing'.
Jacobus Micyllus, Gilbertus Cognatus, Erasmus, and almost
aSapientes liberi, stulti servi. Xiibertas est potestas, &c. bHor. 2. ser 7.
cjuven. ‘ ^ Hypercrite. eUt mulier aulica nullias pudens.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
65
all posterity, admire Liiciaas luxuriant wit: yet Scaliger re¬
jects him in his censure, and calls him the Cerberus of the
Muses. Socrates, whom all the world so much magnified, is,
by Lactantius and Theodoret, condemned for a fool. Plutarch
extolls Senecas wit beyond all the Greeks — radii secundus :
yet 3 Seneca saith of himself, when I would solace my self
with a fool , I reflect upon my self ; and there I have him.
Cardan, in his sixteenth book ofSubtilties, reckons up twelve
supereminent, acute philosophers, for worth, subtlety, and
wisdom — Archimedes, Galen, Vitruvius, Archytas Tarentinus,
Euclide, Geber, that first inventer of algebra, Alkindus the
mathematician, both Arabians, with others. But his triumviri
terrarum, far beyond therest, the Ptolemseus, Plotinus, Hippo¬
crates. Scaliger lexer citat. 224) scoff's at this censure of
his, calls some of them carpenters, and mechanicians : he
makes Galen flmbriam Hippocratis, a skirt of Hippocrates :
and the saidb Cardan himself elsewhere condemns both Galen
and Hippocrates for tediousness, obscurity, confusion. Para¬
celsus will have them both meer ideots, infants in physick and
philosophy. Scaliger andCardan admire Suissetthe calculator,
qui pene modum excessit humani ingenii ? and yet c Lud. Vives
calls them nugas Suisseticas: and Cardan opposite to him¬
self in another place, contemns those antients in respect of
times present, dmajotesque nostros, ad prcesentes collatos,
juste pueros dppellari. In conclusion, the said e Cardan and
Saint Bernard will admit none into this catalogue of wise men,
f but only prophets and apostles : how they esteem themselves,
you have heard before. We are worldly-wise, admire our
selves, and seek for applause: but hear Saint ^Bernard, quanto
magis for as es sapiens , tanto magis intus stultus efficeris, fyc.
in omnibus es prudens, circa teipsum insipiens : the more
wise thou art to others, the more fool to thy self. I may
not deny but that there is some folly approved, a divine fury,
a holy madness, even a spiritual drunkenness in the saints
of God themselves: Sanctdm insaniam Bernard calls it,
(though not, as blaspheming h Vorstitus would inferr it as
a passion incident to God himself, but) familiar to good
men, as that of Paul, 2 Cor. he was a fool, fyc. and Rom.
9. he wiseth himself to be anathematized for them. Such
is that drunkenness which Ficinus speaks of, when the
aEpist 33. Quando fatuo delectari volo, non est longe quserendus ; me video.
^Primo contradicentium. cJjib. de caossis corrupt, artium. d Actione ad
subtil, in Seal. fol. 12. 26. _ e Lib. 1. de sap.. * _ fVide, miser bomo, quia
totum est vanitas, totum stultitia, totum dementia, quidquid facisin hoc mundo, prater
hoe solum quod propter Deum facis. Ser. de miser, hom. % In 2 Platonis, dial.
1. dejusto. hDum iram et odium in Deo revera ponit.
VOL. I
66 DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
soul is elevated and ravished with a divine taste of that heavenly
nectar, which the poets deciphered by the sacrifice of Diony¬
sius, and in this sense, with the poet, &'insanire hibet: as Austin
exhorts us, ad ebrietatem se quisque paret ; let’s all be mad
and b drunk. But we commonly mistake and go beyond our
commission : we reel to the opposite part ; c we are not capa¬
ble of it ; dand, as he said of the Greeks, Vos Greed semper
pueri, vos Britanni, Galli, Germani , Itali, fyc. you are a com¬
pany of fools.
Proceed now a partibus ad totum, or from the whole to
parts, and you shall find no other issue. The parts shall be
sufficiently dilated in this following preface. The whole must
needs follow by a sorites or induction. Every multitude is
mad, e bellua multorum capitum, precipitate and rash, with¬
out judgement, stultum animal , a roaring rout. fRoger Bacon
proves it out of Aristotle — vulgus dividi in oppositum contra
sapient es : quod vulgo videtur verum,falsum est ; that which
the commonalty accounts true, is most part false ; they are
still opposite to wise men; but all the world is of this humour
(vulgus); and thou thyself wi de vulgo, one of the common¬
alty ; and be;, and he ; and so are all the rest; and therefore
(as Phocion concludes) to be approved in nought you say or
do, meer ideots and asses. Begin then where you will, g'o
backward or forward, choose out of the whole pack, wink and
choose: you shall find them all alike— Merer a barrel better
herring.
Copernicus, Atlas his successor, is of opinion, the earth is
a planet, moves and shines to others, as the moon doth to us.
Digges, Gilbert, Keplerus, Origanus, and others, defend this
hypothesis of his in sober sadness, and that the moon is in¬
habited. If it be so that the earth is a moon, then we; are
also giddy, vertiginous, and lunatick, within this sublunary
maze.
I could produce such arguments till dark night. If you
should bear the rest,"
Ante diem clauso componet Vesper Olympo :
but, according to my promise, 1 will descend to particulars.
This melancholy extends it self not to men only, but even to
vegetals and sensibles. I speak not of those creatures which
are saturnine, melancholy by nature, (as lead, and such like
minerals, or those plants, rue, cypress, &c. and hellebore
aVirg. 1, Eel. 3. bPs. ioebriaJbaatnr ab nbertate domus. cTnPsal.
104-Aust. d la Platoais Tim. sacerdos iEgyptius. e-Hor. Valgus insa-
iium. f Paret ea divisio probabilis, &c. es Arist. Top lib. 1. c. 8. Rog. Bac.
Epist, de secret; art et. nat c. 8. Non est judicium in vulgo.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
67
itself, of which *Agrippa treats, fishes, birds, and beasts,
hares, conies, dormice, &e. owls, bats, night-birds) but that
artificial, which is perceived in them all. Remove a plant; it
will pine away ; which is especially perceived in. date-trees*
as you may read at large In Constantines husbandry — that
antipathy between the vine and the cabbage, vine and oyle.
Put a bird in a cage ; he will dye for sullenness ; or a beast in
a pen, or take his young ones or companions from him; and see"
what effect it will, cause. But who perceives not these com¬
mon passions of sensible creatures, fear, sorrow, &c. ? Of all
other, dogs are most subject to this malady, in so much, some
hold they, dream as men do, and through violence of melan¬
choly, run mad. I could relate many stories of dogs, that
have dyed for grief, and pined away for loss of their masters;
but they are common in every b author.
Kingdoms, provinces, and politick bodies, are likewise sen¬
sible and subject to this disease, as c Boterus, in his Politicks,
hath proved at large. As, in humane bodies , (saith he) there
be divers alterations proceeding from humours, so there be
many diseases in a common-wealth, which do as diversely
happen from several distempers, as. .you may easily perceive
by their particular symptoms. For where you shall see the
people civil, obedient to God and princes, judicious, peace¬
able and quiet, rich, fortunate, dand flourish, to live in peace,
in unity and concord, a countrey well tilled, many fair built
and populous cities, ubi ineolce intent, as old e Cato said, the
people are neat, polite, and terse, ubi bene be.af.eque vivunt,
(which our politicians make the chief end of a common- wealth;
and which f Aristotle, Polit. lib. *3. cap. 4. calls commune bo-
mm, Polybius, lib. 6, optabilem et selectum statum ,) that
countrey is free from melancholy ; as it was in Italy in the time
of Augustus, now in China, how in many other flourishing
kingdoms of Europe. But whereas you shall see many dis¬
contents, common grievances, complaints, poverty, barbarism,
beggary, plagues, wars, rebellions, seditions, mutinies, conten¬
tions, idleness, riot, epicurism, the land lye untilled, waste, full
of bogs, fens, desarts, &c. cities decayed, base and poor towns,
villages depopulated, the people squalid, ugly, uncivil ; that
kingdom, that countrey, must needs be discontent, melan¬
choly, hath a sick body, and had need to be reformed.
_ aDe occult philosoph. 1. 1. c. 25. et 49. ejusd. -1. Lib.40. cap. 4. 11 See' Lip-
sius, epist c De politia illustrium, lib. 1. cap. 4. Ut in humanis corporibus varias
accidunt mutationes corporis animique, sic in republica; &e. _dUbi reges pbi-
losophautur. Plato, e Lib. de re rust. f Velpublicam utilitatem. Sal us.
pnblica suprema lex esto. Beata civitas, non, ubi pauci beati, sed tota civitas beata,
Plato, quarto de repub.
F 2
68
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
Now that cannot well be effected, till the causes of these
maladies be first removed, which commonly proceed from their
own default, or some accidental inconvenience ; as to he site
in a bad clime, too far north, steril, in a barren place, as the
desart of Libya, desarts of Arabia, places void of waters, as
those of Lop and Belgian in Asia, or in a bad air, as at Alex-
andretta. Bantam, Pisa, Durazzo, S. John de Ullua, &c. or in
danger of the seas continual inundations, as in many places
of the Low-Countreys and elsewhere, or near some bad neigh¬
bours, as Hungarians to Turks, Podolians to Tartars, or al¬
most any bordering countries, they live in fear still, and, by
reason of hostile incursions, are oftentimes left desolate. So
are cities by reason a of wars, fires, plagues, inundations,
bwild beasts, decay of trades, barred havens, the seas violence,
as Antwerp may witness of late; Syracuse of old, Brundusium
in Italy, Rhye and Dover with us, and many that at this day
suspect the seas fury and rage, and labour against it, as the
Venetians to their inestimable charge. Butthe most frequent
maladies are such as proceed from themselves, as, first, when
religion and Gods service is neglected, innovated, or altered —
where they do not fear God, obey their prince — where athe¬
ism, epicurism, sacrilege, simony, &c. and all such impieties
are freely committed — 'that countrey cannot prosper. When
Abraham came to Gerar, and saw a bad land, he said, sure
the fear of God was not in that place. c Cyprian Echovius,
a Spanish chorographer, above all other cities of Spain, com¬
mends Borcino, in which there was no beggar , no man ■poor,
SfC.' but all rich and in good estate : and he gives the reason,
because they were more religious than their neighbours. Why
was Israel so often spoiled by their enemies, led into captivity,
&c. but for their idolatry, neglect of Gods w ord, for sacrilege,
even for one Achans fault ? And what shall we expect, that
have such multitudes of Achans, church-robbers, simoniacal
patrons, &e.? how can they hope to flourish, that neglect
divine duties, that live, most part, like epicures ?
Other common grievances are generally noxious to a body
politick ; alteration of laws and customs, breaking privileges,
genera] oppressions, seditions, &c. observed by d Aristotle,
Bodin, Boterus, Junius, Arniscus, &c. I will only point at
some of the chiefest. e Impotentia gubernandi, ataxia , con-
a Mantua, v® ! miser® minium vicina Cremon®. *>Interdnm a feris, tit
olim Mauritania, &c. c Deliciis Hispani® an. 1604. Nemo mains, nemo
pauper ; optimns quisqne atqne ditissimns. Pie, sanctequevivebant ; summaquecum
veneratione et timore, divino cultui, sacrisque rebus, incumbebant d Polit.
1. 5. c. 3. e Boterus, polit lib. 1. c. 1. Cum nempe princeps rerum gerendarum
imperitus, segnis, oscitans, saique muneris immemor, ant fatuus est. . ,
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER. 69
fusion, ill government, which proceeds from unskilful slothful,
griping, covetous, unjust, rash, or tyrannizing magistrates,
when they are fools, ideots, children, proud, wilful, partial,
undiscreet, oppressors, giddy heads, tyrants, not able or unfit
to manage such offices. a Many noble cities and flourishing
kingdoms by that means are desolate ; the whole body groans
under such heads ; and ail the members must needs be misaf-
fected. as at this day those goodly provinces in Asia Minor,
&c. groan under the burthen of a Turkish government ; and
those vast kingdoms of Musco via, Russia, b under a tyrannizing
duke. Who ever heard of more civil and rich populous
countreys than those of Greece, Asia Minor, abounding with
all c wealth, multitude of inhabitants, force, power , splendor ,
and magnificence ? and that miracle of countreys, d the Holy
Land, that, in so small a compass of ground, could maintain
so many towns, cities, produce so many fighting men ? Egypt
another Paradise, now barbarous and desalt, and almost waste,
by the despotical government of an imperious Turk, intolera-
hili servitutis jugo premitur (eone saith): not only fire and
water, goods or lands, sed ipse spiritus ah insolentissimi vic-
torispendet nutu : such is their slavery, their lives and souls
depend upon liis insolent will and command— a tyrant that
spoyls all wheresoe ver he comes ; insomuch that an / historian
complains, if an old inhabitant should now see them, he would
not know them ; if a traveller , or stranger, it would grieve
his heart to behold them — whereas '(« Aristotle notes) novae
exactiones, nova onera imposita, new burdens and exactions
daily come upon them, (like those of which Zosimus, lib. 2.)
so grievous ut viri uxores, patres filias prostituerent, ut ex-
actoribus e qucestu, Sf'c they must needs be discontent: hinc
civitatum gemitus et ploratus, as h Tully holds ; hence come
those complaints and tears of cities poor, miserable, rebellious,
and desperate subjects, as i Hippolytus adds : and, k as a judi¬
cious countrey-man of ours observed not long since in a sur¬
vey of that great Duchy of Tuscany, the people lived much
grieved and discontent, as appeared by their manifold and
manifest complainings in that kind ; that the state was like a
- body which had lately [ taken physick, whose humours are not
yet well settled, and weakened so much by purging, that nothing
was left but melancholy.
aNon viget respublica cujns caput infirmatur. Salisburiensis, c. 22. bSee
D. Fletchers relation, and Alexander Gagninus history. c Abundans omni
divitiarum affluent ia, incolarum multitudine, splendore, ac potentia. d Not
above 200 miles in length, 60 in breadth, according to Adric-omius. e Ro¬
mulus Amaseus. fSabellicus. Si quis incola vetus, non agnosceret ; si
quis peregrines, ingemisceret. " Polit 1. 5. c. 6. Crudelitas principum, im-
ponitas scelerum, violatio legum, peculatus pecuniae publicae, &c. 11 Epist.
1 De increm. urb. cap. 20. Subditi miseri, rebelles, desperati, &c. ‘ k R. Dallington,
1596, conclusio libri.
70
DEMOCRITUS 'TO THE READER.
Whereas the princes and potentates are immoderate in lust,
hypocrites, epicures, of no religion, but in shew — Quid hy-
pocrisi fragilius ? what so brittle and unsure ? what sooner
subverts their estates, than wandring and raging lusts on their
subj ects wives, daughters ? to say no worse. They that should
facem proferre , lead the way to all vertuous actions, are the
ringleaders oftentimes of all mischief and dissolute courses ;
and by that means their countries are plagued, aand they them¬
selves oftenrumed, banished or murdered by conspiracy of their
subjects , as Sardanapalus was, Dionysius j unior, Helioga-
balus, Periander, Pisistratus, Tarquinius, Timocrates, Childe-
ricus, Appius Claudius, Andronicus, Galeacius Sforsia, Alex¬
ander Medices, &e.
Whereas the princes or great men are malicious, envious,
factious, ambitious, emulators, they tear a common-wealth
asunder* as so many Guelfes and Gibellines, disturb the quiet¬
ness of it, band, with mutual murders, let it bleed to death.
Our histories are too full of such barbarous inhumanities*
and the miseries that issue from them.
Whereas they be like so many horse-leeches, hungry, grip¬
ing, corrupt,0 covetous, avariticemancipia, ravenous as wolves,
(for, as Tully writes, qui prceest -, prodest ; et qui pecudibus
prceest, debet eornm utuitati inservire ) or sueh as prefer their
private before the publick good (for, as d he said long since,
res private; publicis semper officer e )—ox whereas they be illite¬
rate* ignorant, empiricks in policy, ubi deest facultas, e virtus,
( Aristot. pol. 5. cap. 8.) et scientia, wise only by inheritance,
and in authority by birth-right, or for their wealth and titles
• — there must needs be a fault, f a great defect, because, as an
s old philosopher affirms, such men are not alwayes fit — of an
infinite number, few alone are senator sj and of those few ,
fewer good: and of that small number of honest good and
noble men , few that are learned, wise discreet, and sufficient,
able to discharge such places — it must needs turn to the con¬
fusion of a state.
For, as the 11 princes are, so are the people } qualm rex.
a Boterus, 1. 9. c. 4 Polit. Quo fit ut aui rebus desperatis exulent, ant conj uratione
subditornm crudelissime tandem trucidentur. b Mutuis odiis et ceedibas
exhausti, &c. cLncra ex malis, sceleratisque caussis. d Sallust.
‘-‘For most part, we mistake the name of politicians, accounting suck as read
Machiavel and Tacitus, great statesmen, that can dispute of political precepts,
supplant and overthrow their adversaries, enrich themselves, get honour, dis¬
semble.. But what is this to the bene esse, or preservation of a common-wealth ?
f Imperium suapte sponte corrnit. % Apul. Prim. Flor. Ex. innn-
merabilibus, panci senatores genere nobiles • e consularibus paaci boni : e bonis
adhuc paaci eruditi. h Non solum vitia concipinnt ipsi principes, sed etiam
infahdunt in civitatem: plusque exempt, quam ppccato, nobeet Gie. 1. de le-
gibur.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
71
tails grex : and, which aAntigones right well said of old, qui
Macedonia regent erudit , omnes etiam subdiios erudit , he that
teacheth the king of Macedon, teacheth all his subjects, is
a true saying still.
For princes are the glass, the school, the book,
Where subjects eyes do learn, do read, do look,
- -Velocius et citius nos
Corrumpunt vitiorum exempla domestica, magnis
Cum subeant ammos auctoribus— — — —
their examples are soonest followed, vices entertained : if they
be prophane, irreligious, lascivious, riotous, epicures, fac¬
tious, covetous, ambitious, illiterate, so will the commons most
part.be, idle, unthrifts, prone to lust, drunkards, and therefore
poor and needy irzna. .c-roicriv ep.'Kom, nm j£fl.jtowgyi«v, for poverty
begets sedition and villany) upon all occasions ready to mutiny
and rebel, discontent, still complaining, murmuring1, grudging,
apt to all outrages, thefts, treasons, murders, innovations, in
debt, shifters, cozeners, outlaws, profligatce famce ac mice.
It was an old b politicians aphorism, they that are poor and
bad , envy rich, hate good men , abhor the present government ,
wish for a new, and would have all turned topsie turvy.
When Catiline rebelled in Rome, he got a company of such
debauched rogues together : they were hisfamiliars and coad¬
jutors, and such have been your rebels, most part, in all ages —
Jack Cade, Tom Straw, Kette, and his companions.
Where they be generally riotous and contentious, where
there be many discords, many laws, many law-suits, many
lawyers, and many physicians, it is a manifest sign of a dis¬
tempered, melancholy state, as c Plato long since maintained :
for, where such kind of men swarm, they will make more work
for themselves, and that body politick diseased, which was
otherwise sound — a general mischief in these our times, an
nnsensible plague, and never so many of them ; which are
now multiply ed (saith Mat. Geraldus, d a lawyer himself,) as so
many locusts, not the parents, but the plagues of the countrey ,
and, for the most part , a supercilious, bad, covetous, litigious
generation of men — e crumenimillga natio', Sfc. a purse-milk¬
ing nation, a clamorous company, gowned vultures, f qui
a Epist. ad. Zen. Juven. Sat. 4. Paupertas seditionem gignit et maleficiujn. Arist.
pol. 2. c. 7. b Sallust. Semper in civitate, quibus opos null* sunt, bonis invident ;
vetera odere ; nova exoptant ; odio suarum rerum mutari omnia petunt. cDe
legibtis. Prpfligat® in repub. discipline est indicium jurisperitorum numerus, et medi-
corum copia. d In pr®f. stud, juris. Multiplicantur nunc in terris, ut locust®, non
patriae parentes, sed pestes, pessimi homines, majoreexparte superciliosi, contentiosi,
&c. — licitum latrocinium exercent, e JDousa, epid. Loquutuleia turba, vultures
togati. fBarc. Argon.
72
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
ex injuria vivunt et sanguine civium, thieves and seminaries
of discord, worse than any polers by the high way side, auri
accipitres, auri exterebronides, pecuniarum hamiolce, qua-
druplatores, curice harpagones , fori tintinnabula monstra ho -
minum, mangones, fyc. that take upon them to make peace,
but are indeed the very disturbers of our peace, a company of
irreligious harpyes, scraping, griping, catch-poles, (I mean
our common hungry peity-foggers, rabulas forenses — love and
honour, in the mean time, all good laws, and worthy lawyers,
that are so many a oracles and pilots of a well governed com¬
mon-wealth) without art, without judgement, that do more
harm, as b Livy saith, quant bella externa, fames , morbive ,
than sickness, wars, hunger, diseases ; and cause a mdst
incredible destruction of a common-wealth, saith c Sesellius,
a famous civilian sometimes in Paris. As ivy doth by an
oke, imbrace it so long, until it hath got the heart out of
it, so do they by such places they inhabit : no counsel at all,
no justice, no speech to be had, nisi eum prcemulseris : he
must be fed still, or else he is as mute as a fish ; better open an
oyster without a knife. Expertocrede, (saith d Salisburiensis) :
in manus eoram millies incidi ; et Charon immitis, qui nulli
pepercitunquam, his longe clementior est — I speak out of expe¬
rience ; I have been a thousand times amongst them ; and
Char on himself' is more gentle than they Che is contented with
his single pay ; but they multiply still: they are never
satisfied : besides they have damnificas linguas, (as he terms
it) nisi f unibus ar genteis vincias : they must be feed to say
nothing, and. f get more to hold their peace, than we can to
say our best. They will speak their clients fair, and invite
them to their tables : but (as he follows it) g o/‘ all injustice ,,
there is none so pernicious as that of theirs, which , when they
deceive most, will seem to be honest men . They take upon
them to be peace-makers, etfovere caussas humilium, to help
them to their right : patrocinantur afflictis ; h but all is for their
own good, ut loculos pleniorum exhauriant : they plead for
poor men gratis ; but they are but as n stale to catch others.
If there be no jar, 1 they can make a jar, out of the law it self
find still some quirk or other, to set them at odds, and con¬
tinue causes so long, (lustra aliquot ) I know not how many
a Jurisconsult! dornus oracumm civitatis. Tully. b Lib. 3. c Lib. 1.
de rep. Gallorum. Incredibilem reipub. permciem afferunt. 2 d Poly crat. lib.
e Is stipe contentos ; at hi asses integros sibi multiplicari jabent. f Plus acci-
piimt tacere, quam nos loqai. S Totins injustitise nulla capitalior, quam e.oium,
qui, cum maxime decipiunt, id agunt ut boni viri esse videantur. h.lS'am, quo-
cunque modo caussa procedat, hoc semper agitur. ut loculi itnpleantur, etsi avaritia
nequit satiari. Camden, iu Norfolk. Qui, si nihil sit litium, e juris apicibus.
lites tamen serere calleut.
DEMOCIUTUS TO THE READER.
73
years, before the causeis beard: and when’tisj edged and deter¬
mined, by reason of some tricks and errours, it is as fresh to
begin, after twice seven years sometimes, as it was at first ; and
so they prolong time, delay suits till they have enriched them¬
selves, and beggared their clients. x4nd, as a Cato inveighed
against Isocrates scholars, we may j ustly tax our wrangling
lawyers, — they do consoles cere in litibus, are so litigious and
busie here on earth, that I think they will plead their clients
causes hereafter, some of them in hell. b Simlerus complains,
amongst the Suissers, of the advocates in his time, that, when
they should make an end, they begin controversies, and pro¬
tract their causes many years, perswading them their title is
good, till their patrimonies be consumed, and that they have
spent more in seeking , than the thing is worth, or they shall
get by the recovery. So that he that goes to law (as the pro¬
verb is) c holds a wolf by the ears ; or, as a sheep in a storm
runs for shelter to a brier, if he prosecute his cause, he is con¬
sumed : i£ he surcease his suit, he loseth all : what difference ?
They had wont heretofore, saith dAustin, to end matters, per
communes arbitros ; and so in Switzerland, (we are informed
by e Simlerus) they had some common arbitrators or dayes-
men in every town, that made a friendly composition betwixt
man and man : and he much wonders at their honest simplicity,
that could keep peace so well, and end such great causes by
that means. At f Fez in Africk, they have neither lawyers
nor advocates; but, if there be any controversie amongst
them, both parties, plaintiff and defend ant, come to their Alfa-
kinsor chief judge ; and at once, without any farther appeals
or pitiful delays, the cause is heard and ended. Our fore¬
fathers, (as § a worthy chorographer of ours observes) had wont,
pauculis cruculis aureis, with a few golden crosses, and lines in
verse, to make all conveyances, assurances. And such was the
candour andintegrity ofsucceeding ages, that a deed, (as I have
oft seen) to convey a whole manor, was implicite contained in
some twenty lines, or thereabouts ; like that scede or scytala
Laconica, so much renowned of old in all contracts, which
hTully so earnestly commends to Atticus, Plutarch in his
a Plutarch, vit. Cat. Canssas apud inferos, quas in suam fidem receperunt, pa-
trocinio suo tuebuntur. *> Lib. 2. de Helvet. repub. Non explicandis, sed mo-
liendis controversiis operam dant, ut lites in multos annos extrahantur summa
cam molestia utriusque partis, et dum interea patriruonia exhanriuntnr. c Lupnm
aoribus tenent. dHor. eLib. de Helvet. repub. .Indices q'aocunque
pago constitunnt, qai arnica aliqua transactione, si fieri possit, lites tollant Ego
majorum nostrorum simplicitatein adrhiror. qoi sic caussas gravissimas com-
posnerint, &c. fClenard 1. 1. ep. Si quse controversi®, utraque pars ju-
dicem adit: is semel et simul rem transigit, audit: nec quid sit apeliatio,
lacrymosaeque morEe, nos cunt. o Camden. . Lib. 10. epist. ad Atticum,
epistll.
74
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
Lysander, ArisJotle, polit. Thucydides, lib. 1 , a Diodorus,
and Saidas, approve and magnifie, for that Laconick brevity in
this kind; and well they might ; for, according to b Tertullian,
certa sunt paucis, there is much more certainty in fewer words.
And so was it of old throughout : but now many skins of
parchment will scarce serve turn : he that buys and sells a
house, must have a house full of writings ; there be so many
circumstances, so many words, such tautological repetitions
of all particulars (to avoid cavillation they say) : but we find, by
our woeful experience, that, to subtle wits, it is a cause of much
more contention and variance ; and scarce any conveyance so
aecuratety penned by one, which another will not find a crack
in, or cavil at : if any word be misplaced, any little errour,
all is disannulled. That which is law to day, is none to mor¬
row : that which is sound in one mans opinion, is most faulty
to another; that, in conclusion, here is nothing amongst us but
contention and confusion. We bandy one against another ; -
and that, which long since c Plutarch complained of them in
Asia, may be verified in our times — -These men, here assembled,
come not to sacrifice to their gods, to offer Jupiter their first
fruits, or merriments to Bacchus ; but an yearly disease, exas¬
perating Asia, hath brought them hither, to make end of
their controversies and law suits. ’Tis multitude perdentium
et pereuntium, a destructive rout, that seek one an others ruine.
Such, most part, are our ordinary suitors, termers, clients : new
stirs every day, mistakes, errours, cavils, and at this present,
(as I have heard) in some one court, I know not how many
thousand causes : no person free, no title almost good,- with
such bitterness in following, so many slights, procrastinations,
delay es, forgery, such cost (for infinite sums are inconsiderately
spent) violence and malice, I know not by whose fault, law¬
yers, clients, laws, both or all : but as Paul reprehended the
d Corinthians long since, I may more appositely infer now :
There is a fault amongst you ; and I speak it to your shame.
Is there not a* wise man amongst you, to judge between his
brethren ? but that a brother goes to law with a brother ? And
* Christs counsel concerning law-suits was never so fit to be
inculcated, as in this age : f Agree with thine adversary
quickly, Sj-c. Matth. 5. 25.
aBiblioth. ]. 3. b Lib. de Anim. cLib. major, morb. eorp. an animi. Hi.
non eonveniunt, at diis more majorum sacra faciant, non nt jovi primitias offerant,
aut Baceho comissationes ; sed anniversaries morbus, exasperans Asiam, hue eos
coegit, ut eontentiones hie peragant. d 1 Cor. 6. 5. 6. e Stulti, quandp
demnm sapietis ? Psal. 49. 8. f Of which text read two learned sermons, * so
intituled, and preached by our Regius Professour, D. Prideaux : printed at London
by Fcelix Kingston, 1621.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
75
I could repeat many such particular grievances, which must
disturb a body politick : — to shut up all in brief, where good
governmentis, prudent and wise princes, there all things thrive
and prosper; peace and happiness is in that land : where it is
otherwise, all things are ugly to behold, incult, barbarous, un¬
civil ; a paradise is turned to a wilderness. This island amongst
therest, our next neighbours the French and Germans, may be
a sufficient witness, that in a short time, by that prudent po¬
licy of the Romans, was brought from barbarism : see but what
Caesar reports of us, and Tacitus of th ose old Germans : they
Were once as uncivil as they in Virginia ; yet, by planting of
colonies and good laws, they became, from barbarous outlaws,
a to be full of rich and populous cities, as now they are, and
most flourishing kingdoms. Even so might Virginia, and those
wild Irish, have been civilized long since, if that order had
been heretofore taken, which now begins, of plantingcolonies,
&c. I have read a b discourse, printed anno 1612, discovering
the true causes , why Ireland wets never intirely subdued, or
brought under obedience to the crown of England, until the
beginning of hits Majesties happy reign. Yet, if his reasons
were thoroughly scannedby a judicious politician, I am afraid
he would not altogether be approved, but that it would turn to
the dishonour of our nation, to suffer it to lye so long waste.
Yea, and if some travellers should see (to come neerer home)
those rich United Provinces of Holland, Zealand, &c. over
against us, those neat cities and populous towns, full of most
industrious artificers, Rso much land recovered from the sea,
and so painfully preserved by those artificial inventions, so
wonderfully approved, as .that of Bemster in Holland, ut nihil
huic par aut simile invenias in toto orbe, saith Bertius the
geographer — all the world cannot match it: d so many naviga¬
ble channelsfrom place toplace, made by mens hands, &c. and,
on the other side, so many thousand acres of our fens lie
drowned, our cities thin, and those vile, poor, and ugly to
behold in respect of theirs ; our trades decayed, our still run¬
ning rivers stopped, and that beneficial use of transportation
wholly neglected ; so many havens void of ships and towns,
so many parks and forests for pleasure, barren heaths, so
many villages depopulated, &c. I think sure he would find
some fault
I may not deny but that this nation of ours doth bene midire
apudexteros — is a most noble, a most flourishing kingdom, by
aSaspius bona materia cessat sine artifice. Sabeilicus, de Germania. Si qais vide-
tet Germaniam arbibus bodie excultam, non diceret, at olim, tristem cultu, aspe-
ram coeio, teirarum informem. bBy his Majesties Attorney General there. c As
Zeipland, Bemster in Holland, fee. d From Gannt to Sluee, from Bruges to the
sea, &c.
76
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
common consent of all a geographers, historians, politicians :
'tis unica velut arx , and which Quintius in Livy said of the
inhabitants of Peloponnesus, may be well applyed to us, we are
testudines testa sud inclusive — like so many tortoises in our
shells, safely defended by an angry sea, as a wall, on all sides:
our island hath many such honourable eulogiums ; and, as a
learned countrey- man of ours right well hath it,'0 Ever since
the Normans first coming into England, this countrey , both
for military matters and all other of civility, hath been pa¬
rallel' d with the most flourishing kingdoms of Europe, and
our Christian world — a blessed, a rich countrey, and one of
the fortunate isles ; and, for some things, c preferred before
other countries, for expert seamen, our laborious discoveries,
art of navigation, true merchants — they carry the bell away
from all other nations, even the Portugals and Hollanders
themselves— 'd without all fear, (saith Jioterus) furrowing the
ocean winter and summer ; and two of their captains, with
no less valour than fortune , have sailed round about the world.
e We have beside many particular blessings, which our neigh¬
bours want — the gospel truly preached, church discipline
established, long peace and quietness — free from exactions,
foraign fears, invasions, domestical seditions— well manured,
ffortitied by art, and nature, and now most happy in that for¬
tunate union of England and Scotland, which our forefathers
have laboured to effect, and desired to see : but, in which we
excell all others, a wise, learned, religious king, another Numa,
a second Augustus, a true Josiah, most ‘worthy senators, a
learned clergy, an obedient commonalty, &e. Yet, amongst
many roses, some thistles grow, some bad weeds and enormi¬
ties, which much disturb the peace of this body politick,
eclipse the honour and glory of it, fit to be rooted out, and
with all speed to be reformed.
The first is idleness, by reason of which we have many
swarms of rogues and beggars, theeves, drunkards, and dis¬
contented persons, (whom Lycurgus, in Plutarch, calls morbos
reipub. the boils of the common-wealth) many poor people in
all our towns, civitates ignobiles, as § Polydore calls them,
base built cities, inglorious, poor, small, rare in sight, ruinous,
and thin of inhabitants. Our land is fertile (we may not deny),
full of all good things ; and why doth it not then abound with
cities, as well as Italy, France, Germany, the Low-Countreys %
a Ortelius, Boterus, Mercator, Meteranus, &c. b Jam inde non belli gloria,
quam humanitatis -cultu, inter ilorentissimas orbis Christiani gentes imprimis floruit.
Camden. Brit, de Normanis. c Geog. Keeker. d Tam hyeme quam asstate
intrepide sulcant oceanum ; et duo illorum duces, non minore audacia quam fortu-
na, totius orbem terras circumnavigarunt. Amphitheatro Boterus. e A fertile
soil, good air, &c. tin, lead, wool, saffron, &c. fTota Britannia unica velut
arx. Boter. s Lib. 1. hist.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
because their policy hath been otherwise ; and we are not so
thrifty, circumspect, industrious. Idleness is the malus geni¬
us of our nation: for, (as aBoterus justly argues) fertility of a
countrey is not enough, except art and industry be joyned
unto it. Accordinglo Aristotle, riches are neither natural or ar¬
tificial : natural are good land, fair mines, &c. artificial, are
manufactures, comes, &e. Many kingdoms are fertile, but thin
of inhabitants, as that duchy of Piedmont in Italy, which
Leander Arbertus so much magnifies for corn, wine, fruits,
&c. yet nothing near so populous as those which are more
barren. b England saith he ( London only excepted) hath
never a populous city, and yet a fruitful countrey. I find
46 cities and walled towns in Alsatia, a small province in Ger¬
many, 50 castles, an infinite number of villages, no ground
idle — no, not rocky places, or tops of hills, are untilled, as
c Munster informeth us. In d Greichgea, small territory on the
Necker, 24 Italian miles over, I read of20 walled towns, in¬
numerable villages, each one containing 150 houses most part,
besides castles and noblemans palaces. I observe, in eTuringe
in Dutchland, (twelve miles over by their scale) 12 counties,
and in them 144 cities, 2000 villages, 144 towns, 250 castles
— in fBavaria, 34 cities, 46 towns, &e. zPortugallia interam-
nis, a small plot of ground, hath 1460 parishes, ISO monaste¬
ries, 200 bridges. Malta, a barren island, yields SO 000 inhabit¬
ants. But of all the rest, I admire Lues Guicciardines relations
of the Low-Countries. Holland h ath 26 cities, 400 great villages
Zeland, 10 cities, 102 parishes — Brabant, 26 cities, 102
parishes — Flanders, 28 cities, SO towns, 1154 villages, besides
abbies, castles, &c. The Low- Countries generally have three
cities at least for one of ours, and those far more populousand
rich : and what is the cause, but their industry and excellency
in all manner of trades, their commerce, which is maintained
by a multitude of tradesmen, so many excellent channels made
by art, and opportune havens, to which they build their cities ?
all which we have in like measure, or at least may have. But
their chiefest loadstone, which draws all manner of commerce
and merchandise, which maintains their present estate, is not
fertility of soyl, but industry that enricheth them : the gold
mines of Peru or Nova Hispania may not compare with them.
They have neither gold nor silver of their own, wine nor oyl,
or scarce any .corn growing in those United Provinces, little or
a Increment, urb. lib. 1. eap. 9. b Angli®, exceptoLondino, nulla est ci vitas
memorabilis, licet ea natio rerum omnium copia abundet. « Cosmog. lib. 3. cap.
119. Villarum non est numerns ; nullus locus otiosus, aiit incultus. d Chytreus,
orat. edit. Francof. 1583. e Maginus Geog. f Ortelius e Vaseo et Pet. de
Medina. S An hundred families in each.
TS
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
no wood, tin,iead. iron, silk, wool, any stuff almost, or mettle;
and yet Hung-ary, Transilvania, that brag of their mines, fertile
England, cannot Gompare with them. I dare boldly say, that
neither Fi*ance, Tarentum, Apulia, Lombardy, or any part
of Italy, Valence in Spain, or that pleasant Andalusia, with their
excellent fruits, wine, and oyl, two harvests — no, not any part
of Europe, is so flourishing, so rich, so populous, so full of
good ships, of well built cities, so abounding with all things
necessary for the use of man. ’Tis our Indies, an epitome
of China, and all by reason of their industry, good policy, and
commerce. Industry is a loadstone to draw all good things;
that alone makes countries flourish, cities populous, a and will
enforce, by reason of much manure which necessarily follows,
a barren soyl to be fertile and good, as sheep (saith b Dion)-
mend a bad pasture.
Tell me, politicians, why is the fruitful Palestiaa, noble
Greece, JEgypt, Asia Minor, so much decayed, and (meer
carcasses now) fain from that they were? The ground is the
same ; but the government is altered; the people are grown
slothful, idle ; their good husbandry, policy, and industry, is
decayed. Non fatigata ant effeta Tamms; (as c Columella well
informs Sylvin us) sed nostra fit inertia, Me. May a man be¬
lieve that which Aristotle in iiis Politicks, Pausanias, Stepha-
nus, Sophianus, Gerbelius, relate of old Greece? I find here¬
tofore 70 cities in Epirus (overthrown by Paulus Jvmilius), a
goodly province in times past, d now left desolate of good
towns, and almost inhabitants- — 62 cities in Macedonia, in
Strabo’s time. I find 30 in Laconia, but now scarce so many
vill ages, saith Gerbelius. If any man, from Mount Taygetus,
should view the countrey round about, and see tot delieigs ,
tot urbes per Peloponnesum dispersas, so many delicate and
brave built cities, with such cost and exquisite cunning, so
neatly set out in Peloponnesus, ehe should perceive them now
ruinous and overthrown, burnt, waste, desolate, and laid level
with the ground. Incredihile dietu, SfC. And as he laments,
Quis, taiia fando, Temper et a lacrymis? Quis iam dwrus aut
ferreus , (so he prosecutes it) who is he that can sufficiently
condole and commiserate these ruines? Whereare those 4000
cities of -Egypt, those 100 cities in Crete ? Are they now come
totwo ? W hatsaith Pliny, and JElian, of old Italy ? There were,
in former ages, 1166 cities : Blondits and Machiavel both grant
a Populi multitude diligenti cultura fecandat solum. Boter. 1. 8. c. 3. *> Orat.
35. Terra ubi oves stabulantar, optima agricolis ob stercus. 'Be refust. 1. 2.
cap; 1 dHodie urbibus desolatur, et magua exparte incolisdestituitur. Gerbelius
desc. Gr»cise. lib. 6. e Videbit eas fere omaes aut exersas, aut solo sequatas,
aut-in rudera feeaissime dejectas, Gerbelius.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
79
thenr now nothing- near so populous and full of good towns, as
inthetime of Augustus (for now Leander Arbertus can find but
300 at most), and, if we may give credit to a Livy, not then
so strong and puissant as of old : They mustered IQ legions
informer times, which now the known world will scarce yield .
Alexander built 70 cities in a short space for his part ; our
sultans and Turks demolish twice as many, and leave all
desolate. Many will not believe but that our island of Great
Britain is now more populous than ever it was: yet let them
read Bede, Leland, and others; they shall find it most flourished
in the Saxon Heptarchy, and in the Gonquerours time was
far better inhabited, than at this present. See that Doomsday-
Book : and shew me those thousands of parishes, which are
now decayed, cities ruined, villages depopulated, &c. The
lesser the territory is, commonly the richer it is —parvus, sed
bene culius, ager—ns those Athenian, Lacedaemonian, Arcadian;
Elean, Sicyonian, Messenian, &c. common-wealth of Greece
make ample proof — as those imperial cities and free states
of Germany may witness— those cantons of Switzers, Rhseti,
Grisons, Walloons, territories of Tuscany, Lucca and Sienna
of old. Piedmont, Mantua, Venice in Italy, Raguse, &c.
That prince, therefore, (as b Boterns adviseth) that will have
a rich country, and fair cities, let him get good trades, privi¬
leges, painful inhabitants, artificers, and suffer no rude matter
unwrought, as tin, iron, wood, lead, &c. to be transported out
of his countrey— c a thing in part seriously attempted amongst
us, but not effected. And because industry of men, and
multitude of trade, so much avails to the ornament and en¬
riching of a kingdom, those ancient d Massilians would admit
no man into their city that had not some trade. Selym the
First, Turkish Emperour, procured a thousand good artificers
to be brought from Tauris to Constantinople. The Polanders
indented with Henry duke of Anjou, their new chosen king,
to bring with him an hundred families of artificers into Poland.
James the first in Scotland (as e Buchanan writes) sent for the
best artificers he could get in Europe, and gave them great re¬
wards to teach his subjects their several trades. Edward the
Third, our most renowned king, to his eternal memory,
brought cloathing first into this island, transporting some fa¬
milies of artificers from Gaunt hither. How many goodly
cities could I , reckon up, that thrive wholly by trade, where
aLib. 7. Septuaginta olim legiones script* dicuntnr ; quas vires hodie, -&c,
bPolit. 1. 3. c. 8. cFor dying of cloatbs, and dressing, &c. d Valer. lib. 2.
c. 1 e Hist. Scot. lib. 10, Magnis propositis pr*miis, ut Scoti abiis edoce-
rentnr.
so
DEMOCRITUS TO TUE READER.
thousands of inhabitants live singular well by their finger ends,
as Florence in Italy by making cloth of gold; great Millan by
silk, and all curious works ; Arras in Artois by those fair
hangings; many cities in Spain, many in France, Germany,
have none other maintenance, especially those within the land.
a Mecha, in Arabia Petrasa, stands in a most unfruitful coun¬
try, that wants water, amongst the rocks, (as Vertomannus
describes it) ; and yet it is a most elegant and pleasant city,
by reason of the traffick of the east and west. Ormus, in
Persia, is a most famous mart town, hath not else but
the opportunity of the haven to make it flourish. Corinth,
a noble city, ( lumen Grcecice, Tally call it) the eye of
Greece, by reason of Ceneh.reas and Lecheus, those excel¬
lent ports, drew all the traffick of the Ionian and iEgean seas
to it ; and yet the country about it was citrva et superciliosa ,
(as b Strabo terms it) rugged and harsh. We may say the
same of Athens, Actium, Thebes. Sparta, and most of
those towns in Greece. Nuremberg in Germany is sited in a
most barren soil, yet a noble imperial city, by the sole indus=
try of artificers, and cunning trades : they drew the riches of
most countreyes to them; so expert in manufactures, that, as
Sallust long since gave out of the like, sedem (mimes in- ex¬
tremis digitis habent ; their soul, or intellectus agens, was
placed in their fingers ends ; and so we may say of Basil, Spire,
Cambray, Francfurt, &c. It is almost incredible to speak
what some write of Mexico, and the cities adjoyning to it :
no place in the world, at their first discovery, more populous.
cMat. Riccius the Jesuite, and some others, relate of the in¬
dustry of the Chinaes most populous countreys, not a beggar,
or an idle person to be seen, and how by that means they pros¬
per and flourish. We have the same means — able bodies,
pliant wits, matter of all sorts, wooll, flax, iron, tin, lead,
wood, &c. many excellent subjects to work upon : only indus¬
try is wanting. We send our best commodities beyond the
seas, which they can make good use of to their necessities, set
themselves a work about, and severally improve, sending the
same to us back at dear rates, or else make toyes and babies
of the tails of them, which they sell to us again, at as great a
reckoning as they bought the whole. In most of our cities,
some few excepted, like d Spanish loyterers, w7e live wholly
by tipling : inns and ale-houses, malting, are their best
a Munst. cosm. 1.5. c. 74: Agro omnium rerum infecundissimo, aqua indigente,
inter saxeta, urbs lamen elegantissima, ob orientis negotiationes et occidentis.
b Lib. 8. Geogr. ob asperum situm. cLib. Edit, a nic. Tregant. Belg. A.
1616. expedit. in Sinas. d Ubi nobiles probri loco babent artem aliquam profiteri.
Clenard. ep 1. 1.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
81
ploughs ; their greatest traffick, to sell ale. aMeteran and
some others object to us, that we are no whit so industrious as
the Hollanders: Manual trades, (saith he) which are more
curious or troublesome, are wholly exercised by strangers: they
dwell in a sea full of fish ; but they are so idle , they will not
catch so much as shall serve their own turns, hut buy it of their
neighbours. Tosh! b Mare liberum: they fish under our
noses, and sell it to us, when they have done, at their own
prices,
• - - Pudetheec opprobria nobis
Et dici potuisse et non potuisse refelli.
I am ashamed to hear this objected by strangers; and know
not how to answer it.
Amongst our towns there is only c London that bears theface
of a city — d epitome Britannia;, a famous emporium, second to
none beyond seas, a noble mart : bnt sola crescit, decrescentibus >
aliis ; and yet, in my slender judgement, defective, in many
things. The rest (e some few excepted) are in mean estate,
ruinous most part, poor and full of begg’ars, by reason of their
decayed trades, neglected or bad policy, idleness .of their in¬
habitants, and riot, which had rather beg or loyfer, and be
ready to starve, than work. . .
1 cannot deny but that something may be said in defence
of our cities, fthat they are not so fair built, (for the sole
magnificence of this kingdom concerning buildings, hath been
of old in those Norman castles and religious houses) so rich,
thick sited, populous, as in some other countreys. Besides the
reasons Cardan gives, ( Subtil . Lib. 11.) we want wine and oyl,
their two harvests ; .we dwell in a colder air, and, for that
cause, must a little more liberally s feed of flesh, as all North¬
ern countreys do. Our provision will not therefore extend
to the maintenance of so many: yet, notwithstanding, we
have matter of all sorts, an open sea of traffick, as well
as the rest, goodly havens. And how can we excuse our
a Lib. 13; B’elg. Hist. Non tam laboriosi, utBelgse, sed, ut Hispani, otiatores, vitam
nt plurimum otiosam agentes : artes mannariae, quae plurimum habent in se Iaboris et
difficultatis, majoremque requirunt indnstriam, a peregrinis et exteris exercentur : habi¬
tant in piscosissimo mari ; interea tantum non piscantur quantum insulae snffecerit, sed
a vicinis emere coguntar. ' b Grotii Liber. «Urbs animis nutneroquepofens,
et robore gentis. Scaiiger. ^Camden. e York, Bristow, Norwich, 'Worcester, ike.
f N. Gainsford’s argument, “Because gentlemen d well with us in' the countrey villages,
our cities are less,” is nothing to the purpose . Put 300 or 400 villages in a shire, and
every village yield a gentleman: what is 400 families to increase one of our cities or
to contend with theirs, which stand thicker ? and whereas ours usually consist of 7000,
theirs consist of 40000 inhabitants, ' s Maxima pars victus in carne consistit.
Polyd. Lib. 1. Hist.
VOL. I. ©
82
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
negligence, our riot, drunkenness, &c. and such enormities,
that follow it ? We have excellent laws enacted, (you will say)
severe statutes, houses of correction, &c. — to small purpose, it
seems : it is not houses will serve, but cities of correction : aour
trades generally oughtto bereformed, wants supplyed. In other
countreys, they have the same grievances, I confess, (but that
doth not excuse us) b wants, defects, enormities, idle drones,
tumults, discords, contention,law-suits, many laws made against
them torepress those innumerable brawls and law-suits, excess
in apparel, diet, decay of tillage, depopulations, c especially
against rogues, beggars, ^Egyptian vagabonds (so termed at
least) which have d swarmed all over Germany, France, Italy,
Poland, (as you may read in eMunster,Cranzius,andAventinus)
as those Tartars and Arabians atthis day do in the eastern coun¬
treys— yet, (such hath been the iniquity of all ages) as it seems,
to small purpose. Nemo innostra civitate mendicus esto, saitk
Plato : he will have them purged from a f common-wealth,
s as a bad humour from the body , that are like so many ulcers
and boils, and mustbe cured before the melancholy body can
be eased.
What Carolus Magnus, the Chinese, the Spaniards, the
duke of Saxony, and many other states have decreed in this
case, read Arniseus, cap, 19- Boterus, UbroS. cap. 2. Osorius,
de Rebus gest. Eman. lib. 11. When a countrey is over¬
stored with people, as a pasture is oft over-laid with cattle,
they had wont in former times to disburden themselves, by
sending out colonies, or by wars, as those old Romans ; or by
employing them at home about some publick buildings, as
bridges, rode-wayes, (for which those Romans were famous
in this island) as Augustus Caesar did in Rome, the Spaniards
in their Indian mines, as at Potosa in Peru, where some
thirty thousand men are still at work, six thousand furnaces
ever boyling, &c. h aqueducts, bridges, havens, those stu-
pend works of Trajan, Cladius at 1 Ostium, Diociesiani
Thermae, Fucinus Lacus, that Piraeeum in Athens, made by
Themistocles, amphitheatrums of curious marble, as at Ve¬
rona, Civitas Philippi, and Heraclea in Thrace, those Appian
and Flaminian wayes, prodigious works all may witness;
a Refraenate monopolii licentiam ; pauciores alantnr otio ; redinteg'retur agricolatio.;
lanificinm instanretur ; ut sit honestum negotiura, quo se exerceat otiosa ilia turba.
Nisi bis malis medentur, frustra exercent justitiam. Mor. Utop. Lib. 1. bMan-
cipiis locuples, egetseris Cappadocum rex. Hor. c Regis dignitatis non estexercere
imperiam in mendicos, sed in opulentos. Non est regni decus, sed carceris esse custos. -
Idem. d Collnvies hominnm. mirabilis, excocti sole, immnndi veste, fosdi visu, furtis
imprimis acres, &c. e Cosmog. lib. 3. c. 5, f Seneca Hand munis turpia
principi multa snpplicia, qnam medico mnlta funera. s Ut pitnitam et bilem a
corpore (11. de leg.) omnes vult exterminari. hSee Lipsius, Admiranda. s De
quo Suet, in Claudio ; et Plinius, c. 36.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
83
and (rather than they should be aidle) as those b ^Egyptian
Pharaohs, Moeris, and Sesostris, did, to task their subjects to
build unnecessary pyramids, obelisks, labyrinths, ehanels,
lakes, gigantian works all, to divert them from rebellion, riot,
drunkenness; c quo scilicet alantur , et ne vagando labor are
desuescant.
Another eye-sore is that want of conduct and navigable
rivers, — -a great blemish, (as d Bo terns, eHippolytus a Colli-
bus, and other politicians hold) if it be neglected in a com¬
mon-wealth. Admirable cost and charge is bestowed in the
Low-Countreys on this behalf, in the Duchy of Milan, terri¬
tory of Padua, in f France, Italy, China, and so likewise
about eorrivations of waters, to moisten and refresh barren
grounds, to drean fens, begs, and moors. Massinissa made
many inward parts of Barbary and Numidia in Africk (be¬
fore his time incult and horrid) fruitful and bartable by this
means. Great industry is generally used all over the eastern
countreys in this kind, especially in iEgypt, about Babylon
and Damascus, (as Vertomannus and §Go tardus Arthus re¬
late) about Barcelona, Segovia, Murcia, and many other
places of Spain, Milan in Italy : by reason of which, their
soil is much improved, and infinite commodities arise to the
inhabitants.
The Turks of late attempted to cut that Isthmos betwixt
Africk and Asia, which11 Sesostris and Darius, and some Pha¬
raohs of iEgypt had formerly undertaken, but with ill success
(as Diodorus Siculus records, and Pliny) ; for that the Red-
sea, being three k cubits higher than dEgypt, would have
drowned all the countrey, ccepto destiterant, they left off.
Yet (as the same Diodorus writes) Ptolemy renewed the
work many years after, and absolved it in a more opportune
place.
Thatlsthmosof Corinth was likewise undertaken to be made
navigable by Demetrius, by Julius Csesar, Nero, Domitian,
Herodes. Atticus, to make a speedy m passage, and less dan¬
gerous, from the Ionian anddEgaean seas: but, because it could
not be so well effected, the Peloponnesians built a wall, like our
Piets wall, about Scbcenus where Neptunes temple stood, and
aUt egestati simul et ignavias occurratur, opificia condiscantar, tenues subleventur.
Bodin. 1. 6. c. 2. num. 6, 7. ^Amasis, .ddgypti rex, legem promulgavit, ut
omnes subditi quotannis rationem redderent unde viyerent. c Buscoldus, discursu
polit. cap; 2. d Lib. 1. de increm urb'. cap. ,6. e Cap; 5. de increm urb.
Quas flumen, locus, aut meru, illuit; f Inoredibilem commoditatem,
vectora mercium, tres flavii navigabiles, &c. Boierus, de Gallia. gHeroditus.
hInd. Orient; cap.- 2. Rotam in medio flumine cnnstituunt,;-cui ex pellibus animalium
consutos utres appendant : hi, dum rota movetur, aquam per canales, &c. i Centum
pedes lata fossa, 30 alta; '■< Contrary to that of Archimedes, who holds the super¬
ficies of all waters even. 1 Lib. 1. cap. 3. m Dion. Pausanias,
et Nib. Gerbelius, Munster. Cosm.lib. 4. cap. 36. Ut brevoir foret navigatio, et minus
peribul sa.
84
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
in the shortest cut over the Isthraos, (of which Diodorus, lib.
II. Herodotus, lib. 8. Uran. — our later writers call it Hex-
amilium) which Amurath the Turk demolished, the Vene¬
tians, anno 1453, repaired in fifteen dayes with thirty thou¬
sand men. Some, saith Acosta, would have a passage cut
from Panama to Nombre de Dios in America : but Thuanus
and Serres, the French historians, speak of a famous aque¬
duct in France, intended in Henry the Fourths time, from the
Loyr to the Seine, and from Rliodanusto theLoyr,the like to
which was formerly assayed by Domitian the emperour,
a fromArar to Mosella, (which Cornelius Tacitus speaks of in
the thirteenth of his Annals), after by Charles the great, and
others. Mach cost hath in former times been bestowed in
either new making Or mending chanels of rivers, and their
passages, (as Aurelianus did by Tiber to make it navigable to
Rome, to convey corn from ./Egypt to the city : vadum alvei
tumentis effodit, saith Vopiscus, et Tiheris ripas extruxit ; he
cut fords, made banks, &c.) decayed havens,' which Claudius
the emperour, with infinite pains and charges, attempted at
Ostia, (as I have said) the Venetians at this day, to preserve
their city. Many excellent means, to enrich their territories,
have been fostered, invented in most provinces of Europe, as
planting some Indian plants amongst us ; silk- worms ; b the
very mulberry leaves in the plains of Granada, yield thirty
thousand crowns per annum to the king of Spains coffers,
besides those many trades and artificers that are busied about
them in the kingdom of Granado, Murcia, and all over Spain.
In France, a great benefit is raised by salt, &c. Whether
these things might not be as happily attempted with us, and
with like success, it may be controverted— silk-worms
(I mean) vines, fir-trees, &c. Cardan exhorts Edward the.
Sixth to plant olives, and is fully perswaded they would pros¬
per in this, island. With us, navigable rivers are most part
neglected. Our streams are not great, I confsss, by reason of
the narrowness of the island : yet they run smoothly and even,
hot headlong, swift, or amongst rocks and shelves, as foam¬
ing Rhodanus and Loyre in France, Tigris in Mesopotamia,
violent Durius in Spain, with cataracts and whirl-pools, as the
Rhine and Danubius, about Schafhausen, Lausenburgh,
Linz, and Cremmes, to endanger navigators ; or broad shal¬
low, as Neckar in the Palatinate, Tibris in Italy ; but calm and
fair as Arar in France, Hebrus in Macedonia, Eurotas in La¬
conia : they gently glide along, and might as well be repaired,
many of them, (1 mean Wie, Trent, Ouse, Thamasis at Gx-
a Charles the great went about to make a channel from Rhine to Danubius. Bil.
Pirkimerus, descript. Ger. the mines are yet seen about Wessemberg, from Rednich
to Aliemul. Ut navigabilia inter se Qccidentis et Septentrionis litora fierent.
t> Magmas, Geogr. Simlerus, de rep. Helvet. lib. 3. descript.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
85
ford, the defect of which we feel in the mean time) as the
river of Lee from Ware to London. B. Atwater of old, or
(as some will) Henry the first, a made a channel from Trent
to Lincoln, navigable ; which now, saith Mr. Cambden, is
decayed : and much mention is made of anchors, and such
like monuments, found about old b Verulamium : good ships
have formerly come to Exeter, and many such places, whose
chanels, havens, ports, are now barred and rejected. We
contemn this benefit of carriage by waters, and are therefore
compelled, in the inner parts of this island, because porterage
is so dear, to eat up our commodities our selves, ana live like
so many boars in a sty, for want of vent and utterance.
We have many excellent havens, royal havens* Falmouth,
Portsmouth, Milford, &c.— equivalent, if not to be preferred,
to that Indian Havanna, old Brundusium in Italy, Aulis in
Greece, Ambracia in Acarnania, Suda in Crete, — which have,
few ships in them, little or no traffic or trade, — which have
scarce a village on them, able to bear great cities: sedvide-
rint politici. I could here justly Tax many other neglects,
abuses, errors* defects among us, and in other countreys — de¬
populations, riot, drunkenness, &c. and many such , quce
nunc in aurem susurrare non libet. But I must take heed, ne-
rpiid gravius dicam , that I do not overshoot my self— Sus
1 Minervum—l am forth of my element, as you peradventure
suppose; and sometimes veritas odium park, as he said ;
verjuice and oatmeal is good for a parret: for, as Lucian said
of an historian, Isay of a politician, he that will freely speak
and write, must be for ever no subject, under no prince or
law, but lay out the matter truly as it is, not caring ’what any
can, will, like or dislike.
We have good laws (I deny not) to rectify such enormi¬
ties ; and so in all other countreys; but, it seenis, not al-
wayes to good purpose. We had need of some general vi¬
sitor in our age that should reform what is amiss— a just army
of Rosie-cross men ; for they will amend all matters, (they
say) religion, policy, manners, with arts, sciences, &c.— -
another Attila, Tamberlane, Hercules, to strive with Ache-
lous, Augeee stabulum piirgare, to subdue tyrants, as che
did Diomedes and Busiris ; to expel thieves, as he did Cacus
and Lacinius ; to vindicate poor captives, as he did Hesione ;
to pass the torrid zone, the desarts of Libya, and purge the
world of monsters and Ceritaures— or another Theban Crates
to reform our manners, to compose quarrels and controver¬
sies, as in his time he did, and was therefore adored for a god
a Camden in Lincolnshire. Fossedike, _ b Near S. Albons. ' c Lilius Girald.
: Nat. Comes. • • -
86
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
in Athens. As Hercules a purged the world of monsters, and
subdued them, so. did he fight against envy, lust , anger, ava¬
rice, Sfc. and all those feral vices and monsters of the mind.
It were to be wished we had some such visitor, or (if wishing
would serve) one had such a ring or rings, as Timolaus de¬
sired in bLucian, by vertue of which he sfiould be as strong as
ten thousand men, or an army of gyants, go invisible, open
gates and castle doors, have what treasure he would, transport
himself in an instant to what place he desired, alter affections,
cure all manner of diseases, that, he might range over the
world, and reform all distressed states and persons, as he
would himself. He might reduce those wandering Tartars in
order; that infest China on the one side, Muscovy, Poland,
on the other ; and tame the vagabond Arabians that rob and
spoil those eastern countreys, that they should never use more
caravans, or janizaries to conduct them. He might root out
barbarism out of America, and fully discover Terra Australis
Incognita; find out the north-east and north-west passages ;
drean those mighty Maeotian fens ; cut down those vast Her-
cynian woods, irrigate those barren Arabian desarts, &c.
cure us of our epidemical diseases, scorbutum, plica, morbus
Neapolitans, $-c. end all our idle controversies ; cut off our
tumultuous desires, inordinate lusts ; root out atheism, im¬
piety, lieresie, schism and superstition, which now so cru-
cifie the world ; catechise gross ignorance, purge Italy of
luxury and riot, Spain of superstition and jealoasie, Germany
of drunkenness, all our northern countreys of gluttony and in¬
temperance ; castigate our hard-hearted parents, masters, tu¬
tors ; lash disobedient children, negligent servants ; correct
these spendthrifts and prodigal sons ; enforce idle persons to
work; drive drunkards off the ale-house ; repress thieves, visit
corrupt and tyrannizing magistrates, &c. But, as L. Licinius
taxed Timolaus, you may us. These are vain, absurd, and
ridiculous wishes, not to be hoped: all must be as it is,
eBoccalmus may cite common-wealths to come before Apollo,
and seek to reform the world it self by commissioners ; but
there is no remedy ; it may not be redressed : desinent homi¬
nes turn demum stultescere, quando esse desinent: so long
as they can wag their beards, they will play the knaves and
fools.
Because, therefore, it is a thing so difficult, impossible, and
far beyond Hercules labours to he performed, let them be rude,
a Apuleius, lib. 4. Flor. Lar familiaris inter homines astatis sase cultus est, litinns
omninm et jurgiorum inter propinquos arbiter et disceptator. Adversus iracundiam,
invidiam, avaritiam, libidinem, ca;teraque animi bnmani vitia et monstra pbiloso-
phus iste Hercules fuit. Pestes eas mentibus exegit o nines, &e, b Votis Navig.
c Ragguaglio, part 2. cap. 2. et part 3. c. 17.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
87
stupid, ignorant, incult : lapis super lapidem sedeat ; and as
the a apologist will, resp. tussi et graveolentia labor et, mun-
dus viiio ; let them be barbarous as they are ; let them b ty¬
rannize, epicurize, oppress, luxuriate, consume themselves
with factions, superstitions, law-suits, wars and contentions,
live in riot, poverty, want, misery ; rebel, wallow as so many
swine in their own dung, with Ulysses companions: stultos
jubeo esse libenter. I will yet, to satisfie and please my self,
make an Utopia of mine own, a new Atlantis, a poetical com¬
mon-wealth of mine own, in which I will freely domineer^
build cities, make laws, statutes, as I list my self. And why
may I not?
- - c pictoribus atque poetis, &e.
You know what liberty poets ever had ; and, besides, my pre¬
decessor Democritus was a politician, a recorder of Abdera, a
law-maker, as some say ; and why may not I presume so much
as he did ? Howsoever, I will adventure. For the site, if you
will needs urge me to it, I am not fully resolved : it may be
in Terra Australis Incognita ; there is room enough (for, of
my knowledge, neither that hungry Spaniard, d nor Mercurius
Britan nicus, have yet discovered half of it) or else one of
those floating islands in -.Mare del Zur , which, like the Cy-
anean isles in the Euxine sea, alter their place, and are ac¬
cessible only at set times, and to some few persons ; or one of
the Fortunate isles; for who knows yet where, or which they
are ? There is room enough in the inner parts of America, ana
northern coasts of Asia. But I will choose a site, whose
latitude shall be 45 degrees (I respect not minutes), in the
midst of the temperate zone, or perhaps under the ^equator,
that e paradise of the world, vhi semper virens laurus , $*c.
Avhere is a perpetual spring. The longitude, for some reasons,
I will conceal. Yet be it known to all men by these presents ,
that if any honest gentleman will send in so much money, as
Cardan allows an astrologer for casting a nativity, he shall be a
sharer ; I will acquaint him with my project ; or, if any
worthy man will stand for any temporal or spiritual office or
dignity, (for, as he said of his archbishoprick of Utopia, ’tis
sanctus ambitus, and not amiss to be sought after) it shall be
freely given, without all intercessions, bribes, letters, &c. his
own worth shall be the best spokesman ; and (because we
shall admit of no deputies or advowsons) if he be sufficiently
qualified, and as able as willing to execute the place himself,
he shall have present possession. It shall be divided into
a Valent. Andre® Apolog. manip. 604. . b Qui sordidus est, sordescat adhuci
cHor» ^Ferdinando Quir. 1612. e Vide Acosta et Laet.
88 DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
twelve. or thirteen provinces ; and those, by hills, rivers, rode-
wayes, or some more eminent limits, exactly bounded. Each
province shall have a metropilis, which shall be so placed
as a center almost in a circumference, and the rest at
equal distances, some twelve Italian miles asunder, or there¬
about; and in them shall be sold all things necessary for the
use of man, statis horis et diebus : no market-towns, markets
or fairs ; for they do but beggar cities (no village shall stand
above six, seven, or eight miles from a city) except those em¬
poriums which are by the sea side, general staples, marts, as
Antwerp, Venice, Bergen of old, London, &c. Cities, most
Eart, shall be situate upon navigable rivers or lakes, creeks,
avens — and, for their form, regular, round, square, or long
square,a with fair, broad, and straight b streets, houses uni¬
form, built of brick and stone, like Bruges, Bruxels, Rhegium
Lepidi, Berna in Switzerland, Milan, Mantua, Crema, Cam-
balu in Tartary described by M. Polus, or that Venetian Pal¬
ma. I will admit very few or no suburbs, and those of baser
building, walls only to keep out man and horse, except it be
in some frontier towns, or .by the sea side, and those to be
fortified c after the latest manner of fortification, and site upon
convenient havens, or opportune places. In every so built
city I will have convenient churches, and separate places to
bury the dead in, not in chui'ch -yards — a citadella (in some,
not all) to command it, prisons for offenders, opportune
market-places of all sorts, for corn, meat, cattle, fuel, fish,
&c. commodious courts of justice, public halls for all so¬
cieties, burses, meeting places, armories, d in which shall be
kept engines for quenching fire, — artillery gardens, publick
walks, theatres, and spacious fields allotted for all gym nicks,
sports, and honest recreations, — hospitals of all kinds for
Children, orphans, old folks, sick men, mad men, souldiers,
^—pest-houses, &c. (not built precario, or by gowty' benefac¬
tors, who, when by fraud dnd rapine they have extorted all
their lives, oppressed whole provinces, societies. See. give
something to pious uses, build a satisfactory alms-house,
school, bridge, &c. at their last end, or before perhaps;
which is no otherwise than to steal a goose, and stick down
a feather, rob a thousand to relieve ten) and those hospitals
so built and maintained, not by collections, benevolences,
donaries, for a set number, (as in ours) just so many and no
more at such a rate, but for all those -who stand in need, be
they more or less, and tha t ex publico cerario, and so still
maintained : non nobis solum nati sumus, %-c. I wall
a Vide Patritium, lib. 8. tit. 10. de Ids tit Reip. b gjc olim Hippodatnus
Milesius. Aristpolit.c, 11. et Vitruvius, 1. 1. c. nit. e With walls of earth, &c»
^Pehis, Plin. epist. 42. Iib.10. et Tacit. Annal. 13. lib.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
89
have conduits of sweet and good water, aptly disposed in
each town, common a granaries, as at Dresden in Mishin,
Sfcetin in Pomerland, Noremberg, &c. colleges of mathema¬
ticians, musicians, and actors, as of old at Lebedum* in Ionia,
balchymists, physicians, artists and philosophers: that all arts
and sciences may sooner be perfected and better learned; and
publick historiographers, (as amongst those antient cPersians,
qui in commentaries referebant quae memoraiu digna gere-
bantur) informed and appointed by the state to register all
famous acts, and not by each insufficient scribler, partial or
parasitical pedant, as in our times. I will provide publick
schools, of all kinds, singing, dancing, fencing, ;&c. especially
of d grammar and languages, not to be taught by those tedious
Ots ordinarily used, but by use, example, conversation, as
ers learn abroad, and nurses teach their children. As I
willhave all such places, so will 1 ordain epubiick governours,
fit officers to each place, treasurers, aediles, quaestors, over¬
seers of pupils, widows goods, and all publick houses, &c. and
those, once a year, to make strict accounts of all receipts,
expences, to avoid confusion ; et sic fiet ut non absumant,
(as Pliny to Trajan) quod pudeat dicer e. They shall be
subordinate to those higher officers, and governours of each
city, which shall not be poor tradesmen, and mean artificers,
but noblemen and gentlemen, which shall be tyed to residence
ia those towns they dwell next, at such set times and seasons :
for I see no reason (which f Hippolytus complains of ) that it
should be more dishonour able for noblemen to govern the city ,
than the countrey, or unseeming ly to dwell there now, than of
old. gX will have no bogs, fens, marishes, vast woods, desaris,
heaths, commons, but all inclosed (yet not depopulated, and
therefore take heed you mistake me not) ; for that which is
common, and every mans, is no mans : the richest countreys
are still inclosed, as Essex, Kent, with us. &c. Spain, Italy ;
and where inclosures are least in quantity, they are best hhus-
a Vide Brisonium, de regno Pers. Jib. 3. de his, et Vegetium, lib. 2. cap. 3. de
Annona. b Not to make gold, but for matters of physick. cBresonins.
Josephus, lib. 21. antiq. Jud. cap. 6. Herod, lib. 3. d So Lud. Vives thinks
best, Comminius and others. e Plato 3. de leg. iEdiles creari vult, qni fora,
fontes, vias, portus, plateas, et- id genus alia procurent. — Vide Isaacum Ponianum,
de civ. Amstel hsec omnia, &c. Gotardum et alios. f De. increm. nrb.
cap. 13. Ingenue fateor me non intelligere cur ignobilius sit urbes bene munitas
colere nunc quam olim, aut casse rustic® praeesse quam urbi. Idem Ubertus
Poliot, de Neapoli. ?Ne tantillunr quidem soli incultum relinquitur ; ut
verum sit ne pollicem quidem agri in his regioni'ous sterilem aut infecundum reperiri.
Marcus Hemingius, Augustanus, de regno Chinas, 1. 1. c. 3. hM.
Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, saith, that, before that countrey was inclosed, the
husbandmen drank water, did eat little or no bread, fol. 66. lib. 1. their apparel
was coarse ; they went bare-legged ; their dwelling was correspondent ; but since
iaclbsure, they live decently, and have money to spend ; (fol 23.) when their
SO DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
banded, as about Florence in Italy, Damascas in Syria, &c.
which are liker gardens than fields. I will not have a barren
acre in all my territories, no not so much as the tops of moun¬
tains : where nature fails, it shall be supplyed by art .* a lakes
and rivers shall not be left desolate. All common high- wayes,
bridges, banks, corrivations of waters, aqueducts, chanels,
publick works, buildings, &c. out of a b common stock, cu¬
riously maintained and kept in repair ; no depopulations, in-
grossings, alterations of wood, arable, but by the consent of
some supervisors, that shall be appointed for that purpose,
to see what reformation ought to be had in all places, what
is amiss, how to help it ;
Et quid quseque ferat regio, et quid quseque recuset ;
what ground is aptest for wood, what for corn, what for cattle,
garden, orehyards, fishponds, &c. with a charitable division in
every village, (not one domineering house greedily to swallow
up all, which is too common with us) what for lords, cwhat for
tenants : and because they shall be better encouraged to im¬
prove such lands they hold, manure, plant trees, drean, fence,
&c. they shall have long leases, a known rent, and known fine,
to free them from those intolerable exactions of tyrannizing
landlords. These supervisors shall likewise appoint what
quantity of land in each manor is fit for the lords demesns,
wliat for holding of tenants, how it ought to be husbanded,
(dUt Magnetes equis, Minyee, gens cognita remiss-
how to be manured, tilled, rectified, eand what proportion is
fit for all callings, because private possessors are many times
idiots, ill husbands, oppressors, covetous, and know not how
to improve their own, or else wholly respect their own, and
not public good.
Utopian parity is a kind of government, to be wished for,
f rather than effected, Respub. Chistianopo litana, Campanellas
City of the Sun, and that new Atlantis, witty fictions, but meer
chimeras : and Plates community in many things is impious.
fields were common, their -wool was coarse 'Cornish hair : but, since inclosure,
it is almost as good as Cotswol, and their soil much mended. Tnsser, c. 52.
of his Husbandry, is of his opinion, one acre inclosed is worth three common.
The conntrey inclosed I praise: The other delighteth not -me; For nothing of
wealth it doth raise, &c. a Incredibilis navigiorum copia : nihilo panciores
in aqnis quam in continent! commorantnr. M. Riccius, expedit. in Sinas, 1. 1.
c. 3. b To this purpose, Arist polit. 2. c. 6, allows a third part of their
revenews, Hippodamus half. ^ cIta lex agraria olim Rom®. d Lu-
canus, f. 6. eHic segetes, illic veninnt felicius uvse : Arborei fetus alibi, at-
qne injussa vireseuntGraroina. Virg. 1. Georg. — - f Joh. Valent. Andreas,
fiord Vernlam.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
91
absurd and ridiculous; it takes away all splendor and magni¬
ficence. 1 will have several orders, degrees of nobility, and
those a hereditary, not rejecting younger brothers in the mean
time ; for they shall be sufficiently provided for by pensions,
or so qualified, brought up in some honest calling, they shall
be able to live of themselves. I will have such a proportion of
ground belonging to every barony : he that buyes the land,
shall buy the barony : he that by riot consumes his patrimony,
and antient demesns, shall forfeit his honours. As some dig¬
nities shall be hereditary, so some again by election of gift
(besides free offices, pensions, annuities) like our bishopricks,
prebends, the Bassas palaces in Turky, the b procurators
houses, and offices in Venice, which (like the golden apple)
shall be given to the worthiest and best deserving both in war
and peace, as a reward of their worth and good service, as so
many goals for all to aim at, (honosalit artes ) and encourage¬
ments to others. For I hate those severe, unnatural, harsh,
German, French, and Venetian decrees, which exclude ple¬
beians from honours : be they never so wise, rich, vertuous,
valiant, and well qualified, they must not be patritians, but
keep their own rank : this is natures helium inf erre^ odious
to God and men ; I abhor it. My form of Government shall
be monarchical ;
.( - - — -c nunquam libertas gratior exstat,
Qnam sub rege pio, &c.)
* few laws, but those severely kept, plainly put down, and in
the mother tongue, that every man may understand. Every
city shall have a peculiar trade or privilege, by which it shall
be chiefly maintained : dand parents shall teach their children,
(one of three at least) bring up and instruct them in the mys¬
teries of their own trade. In each town, these several tradesmen
shall be so aptly disposed, as they shall free the rest from dan¬
ger or offence. Fire-trades, as smiths, forge-men, brewers,
bakers, metal- men, &c., shall dwell apart by themselves;
dyers, tanners, fel-mongers, and such as use wafer, in con-
venientplacesbythemselves: noisome or fulsome forbad smells,
as butchers slaughter-houses, chandlers, curriers, in remote
places, and some back lanes. Fratef nities and companies I ap¬
prove of, as merchants burses, colleges of druggers, phy¬
sicians, musicians, &c. but all trades to be rated in the sale of
wares, as our clerks of the market do bakers and brewers ;
aSo it is in the kingdom of Naples, and France. bSee Contarenus and
Osorins de rebus gestis Emanuelis. c Claudian, 1. 7. d Herodotus, Erato
1, 6. Cum iEgyptiis Lacedaemonii in hoc congrannt, quod eorum praecones,
tibicines, coqui, et reliqui artifices, in paterno artificio succedunt, et coquus a coquo
gignitur, et paterno opere perseverat. Idem Marcus Polus, de Quinzay. Idem Oso-
rias, de Emanuele rege Lusitano. Riccius, de Sinis.
92
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
corn it self, what scarcity soever shall come, net to exceed
such a price. Of such wares as are transported or brought in,
aif they be necessary, commodious, and such as nearly con¬
cern mans life, as corn, wood, cole, &c. and such provision
we cannot want, 1 will have little or no custom paid, no taxes ;
but for such things as are for pleasure, delight, or ornament,
as wine, spice, tobacco, silk, velvet, cloth of gold, lace, jewels,
&c. a greater impost. I will have certain ships sent out
for new discoveries every, year, b and some discreet men ap¬
pointed to travel into all neighbour kingdoms by land, which
shall observe what artificial inventions and good laws are in
our countreys, customs, alterations, or ought else, concerning
war or peace, which may tend to the common good ; — -eccle¬
siastical discipline, penes episcdpos, subordinate as the other :
. no impropriations, no lay patrons of church-livings, or one pri¬
vate man, but common societies, corporations, &c. and those
rectors of benefices to be chosen out of the universities, exa¬
mined and approved as the literati in China. No parish to con¬
tain above, a thousand auditors; If it were possible, I would
have such priests as should imitate Christ, charitable lawyers
should love their neighbours as themselves, temperate and
modest physicians, politicians. contemn the world, philosophers
should know themselves, noblemen live honestly, tradesmen
leave lying and cozening, magistrates corruption, See. But this
is impossible ; I must get such as I may. I will therefore have
cof lawyers, judges, advocates, physicians, chyrurgions, &c.
a set number ; dand every man, if it be possible, J;o. plead his
own cause, to tell that tale to the judge, which he doth to his
advocate, as at Fez in Africk, Bantam, Aleppo, Raguse, suam
quisque caussam dieere tenetur ; those advocates, chyrurgions
and e physicians, which are allowed to be maintained out of the
f common treasure ; no fees to be given or taken, upon pain of
losing their places ; or, if they do, very small fees, and when
sthe cause is fully ended. hHe that sues any man shall put in
a pledge, which if it be proved he hath wrongfully sued his
aHippol. a Collibus, de, increm. mb, c. 20. Plat. 7. de legibus. Q use ad
vitam necessaria, et quibus carere non possumus, nullum depend! vectigal, &c.
bPlato, 12, de legibus, 40 annos natos to It, ut, si quid memorabile viderint apud
exteros, hoc ipsum in rempub. recipiatur. c Simlerus, in Helvetia.
Autopienses caussidicos excludunt, qui caussas cullide et vafre tractent et disputent.
Ihiquissimum censent heminem ullis obligari legibus, quae ant numerosiores sunt
quam ut perlegi queant, aut obscuriores quam ut a qnovis possint intelligL
Volunt ut suam quisque caussam agat, eamque referat judici quam narraiurus fuerat
patrono: sic minus erit ambagum, et veritas facilius elicietur. Mor. Utop. 1. 2.
e Medici ex publico victum summit Boter. 1. 1. c. 5. de iEgyptiis. f JDe his,
lege’ Patrit. 1. 3. tit. 8. de reip. Instit _ S Nihil a clientibus patroni accipiant,
priusquam lis finita est. Bare!. Argen. lib. 3. b It is so in most free cities in
Germany. - •
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
S3
adversary, rashly or malitiously, he shall forfeit and lose.
Or else, before any suit begin, the plaintiff shall have his com¬
plaint approved by a set delegacy to that purpose : if it be of
moment, he shall be suffered, as before, to proceed; if otherwise,
they shall determine it. All causes shall be pleaded suppresso
nomine, the parties names concealed, if some circumstances
do not otherwise require. Judges and other officers shall be
aptly disposed in each province, villages, cities, as common
arbitrators to hear causes, and end all controversies; and those
not single, but three at least on the bench at once, to determine
or give sentence ; and those again to sit by turns or lots, and
not to continue still in the same office. No controversie to
depend above a year, but, without all delays and further appeals,
to be speedily dispatched, and finally concluded in that time
allotted. These and allother inferiour magistrates, to be chosen
a as the literari in China, or by those exact suffrages of the ,
bYenetians ; and such again not be eligible, or capable of ma¬
gistracies, honours, offices, except they be sufficiently c quali¬
fied for learnmg,Tnanners, and that by the strict approbation
of deputed examinators: d first, scholars to take place, then,
souldiers; for I am of Vegetius his opinion, a scholar deserves
better than a souldier, because unius cetatis sunt quae for titer
funt quce vero pro utilitaie reipub. scribuntur, ceterna :
a souldiers work lasts for an age, a scholars for ever. If
they ? misbehave themselves, they shall be deposed, and ac¬
cordingly punished ; and, whether their offices be annual f or
otherwise, once a year they shall be called in question, and
givean account : for men are partial and passionate, merciless,
covetous, corrupt, subject to love, hate, fear, favour, &c. omne
sub regno graviore regnwm. Like Solons Areopagites, or
those Roman censors; some shall visit others, and § be visited
invicem themselves : hthey shall oversee that no proling officer,
under colour of authority, shall insult over his inferiors, as so
many wild beasts, oppress, domineer, fley, grinde, or trample
on, be partial or corrupt, but that there be cequabile jus, jus-
aMatt. Riccios, exped. in Sinas, 1. 1. c. 5, de examinatione electionum copiose
a git, &c. , b Contar. de repub. Venet. 1. 1. c Osor. 1. 11 . de reb. gest. Eman.
Qai in literis maximos progressus fecerint, maximis honoribus, afficiuntur; secimdus
honoris gradus militibus assignatur : postremi ordinis mechanicis. Doctorum ho-
ininura judiciis in altiorem locum quisque prsefertur: et qui a plurimis approbatur,
ampliores in rep. dignitates consequitur-. Qui in hoc examine primas habet, insigni
per totam vitam dignitate insignitur, marchioni similis, aut duci, apud nos.
d Cedant arma togss. e As in Berna, Lucerne, Pribnrge in' Switzerland, a
xitious liver is incapable of any office; if a senator, instantly deposed. Sim-
lerus. f Not above three years, Aristot polit. 5. c. 8. s Nam quis cnsto-
diet ipsos castodes ? h Cytreus, in Greisgeia. Qui non ex sublimi de-
spiciant inferiores, nec ufc bestias conculcent sibi subditos,. auctoritatis nomini_ con¬
ns;, &c.’ .
94
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
tiee equally done, live as friends and brethren together; and
(which ^Seseilius would have and so much desires in his king¬
dom of France) a diapason andsweet harmony oJ‘ kings, princes,
nobles , and plebeians, so mutually tyedand involved in love, as
well as laws and authority , as that they never disagree, insult,
or incroach one upon another. If any man deserve well in
his office, he shall be rewarded ;
— — — quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam,
Praemia si tollas?: - —
He that invents any thing for publick good in any art or
science, writes a treatise, b or performs any noble exploit at
home or abroad, c shall be accordingly enriched, d honoured,
and preferred. I say, with Hannibal in Ennius, Hostem qui
feriet, mihi erzt Carthaginiensis : let him be of what condi¬
tion he will, in all offices, actions, he that deserves best shall
have best.
Tilianus, in Philonius, (out of a charitable mind no doubt)
wisht ali bis books were gold and silver, jewels and precious
stones, e to redeem captives, set free prisoners, and relieve all
poor distressed souls that wanted means : religiously done, I
deny not ; but to what purpose % Suppose this were so well
done, within a little after, though a man had Croesus wealth
to bestow, there would be as many more. Wherefore I will
sufFer no f beggars, rogues, vagabonds, or idle persons at all,
that cannot give an account of their lives, how they s maintain
themselves. If they be impotent, lame, blind, and single,:
they shall be sufficiently maintained in several hospitals, built
for that purpose ; if married and infirm, past work, or, by in¬
evitable loss or some such like misfortune, cast behind,— by
distribution of hcorn, ho use-rent free, annual pensions or money,
they shall be relieved, and highly rewarded for their good ser¬
vice they have formerly done: if able, they shall be enforced
a Sesellius de rep. Gallorum, lib. 1. et 2.’ 1 b Si quis egregium ant bello aut
pace perfecerit Sesel. l. 1. a Ad regendam rempub. soli literati adrnittnntur ;
nee a (team rem gratia magistratuum autregis indigent; omnia ab exploratacujusqae
scientia et virtute pendent. Riccins, 1. 1. e. 5, din defnneti locum earn
jussit snbrogari, qui inter majores virtute reliquis praeiret ; non fait apud mortales
ullnm excellentius certamen, aut cujas victoria magis esset expetenda; non enim
inter celeres, celerrimo, non inter robustos, robustissimo, &c. e Nullum
videres vel in hac vel in vicinis regionibns pauperem, nallum obssratum, &c.
f Nnllns mendiens apad Sinas ; nemini sano, quamvis oculis orbatus sit, mendicare
permittitor: omnes pro viribas laborare cogrmtar ; caeci molis trusatilibus versandis :
addicantar : soli hospitiis gaudent, qui ad labores sant inepti. Osor. 1. 11. de reb.
gest Eman. Heming. de reg. Chin. 1- 1. c. 3. Gotard. Arth. Orient Ind. deser.
sAlex. ab Alex. 3. c. 12. 51 Sic olim Romas. Isaac. Pontam de his optime.
Amstol. 1. 2. c. 9.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER;
93
to work. a For I see no reason (as b he said) why an epicure
or idle drone, a rich glutton, a usurer , should live at ease ,
and do nothing , live in honour, in all manner of pleasures ,
and oppress others, when as, in the mean time , a poor la¬
bourer, a smith, a carpenter, an husbandman — that hath
spent his time in continual labour, as an asse to carry bur¬
dens, to do the common-wealth good, and without whom we
cannot live — shall be left in his old age to begg or starve,
and lead a miserable life, worse than ajument: As c all con¬
ditions shall be tied to their task, so none shall be overtired,
but have their set times of recreations and liolidayes, indul -
geregenio, feasts and merry meetings, even to the meanest
artificer, or basest servant, once a week to sing or dance,
(though not all at once) or do whatsoever he shall please,
(like d that Saccarii festii amongst the Persians, those Sa-
turnals in Rome) as well as his master. e If any be drunk,
he shall drink no more wine or strong drink in a twelve
moneth after. A bankrupt shall b e * catademiatus in amphi-
theatro, publickly shamed ; and he that cannot pay his debts,
if by riot or negligence he hath been impoverished, shall be
for a twel ve moneth imprisoned ; if in that space hiscreditours
be not satisfied, s he shall be hanged. He 11 that commits sa¬
crilege, shall lose his hands ; he that bears false- witness, or is-
of perjury convict, shall have his tongue cut out, except he
redeem it with his head. Murder, 'adultery, shall be punished
by death, kbut not theft, except it be some more griev¬
ous offence, or notorious offenders : otherwise they shall be
condemned to the gallies, mines, be his slaves whom they
offended, during their lives. I hate all hereditary slaves, and
that duram, Persarum legem, as 1 Brisonius calls it; or as
aIdem Aristot. pol. 5. c. 8. Vitiosum, quam soli pauperum liberi educantur ad
kbores, nobilium et divitum in voluptatibus et deliciis. b Quae hsec injustitia,
ut nobilis quispiam, ant foenerator, qni nihil agat' lautam et splendidam vitam agat.
otio et deliciis, quutn interim auriga, faber, agricola, quo respnb. carere non potest,
vitam adeo miseram dncat, ut pejor quam jumentorum sit ejus conditio ? Iniqua
resp. quae dat parasitis, adulatoribus, inanium voluptatum artificibus, generosis et
otiosis, tanta mnnera prodigit, at contra agricolis, carbonariis, aurigis, fabris, &c.
nihil prospicit, sed eorum abnsa labore florentis aetatis, fame penset et sernmnis.
Mor. Utop. 1. 2. cIn Segovia nemo otiosus, nemo mendicns, nisi per astatein aut
morbum opus facere non potest: nulli deest unde victum quasrat, aut quo se exer-
ceat- Cypr. Echovius Deiit. Hispan. Nullus Geneva; otiosus, ne septennis puer.
Paulus Heuzner, Itiner. dAthen£eus, 1. 12. e Simlerus, de repub. Helvet.
fSpartian, olim Romse sic. etle that provides not for his family is worse than
a thief. Paul. h Alfredi lex. Utraque manus et lingua prsecidatur, nisi earn capite
redemerit. _ »Siquis nuptam stuprarit, virga virilis ei preecidatiir ; si mulier,
nasns et auricula prsecidatur. Alfredi lex. En leges ipsi Veneri Martique timen-
das ! k Pauperes non peccant, puum extrema necessitate coacti rem alienam ca-
piunt. ’ _ Moldonat. summula qusest. 8. art 3. Ego cum illis sentio qui licere pu-
tant a divite clam.accipere, qui tenetur pauperi subvenire. Epamannel Sa, Aphor.
confess. 1 Lib. 2. de reg. Persarum.
98
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
a Ammianus, impendio Jbrmidatas et abominandas leges, per
quas ob, noxamunius,omnis propinquitas perit : hard law, that
wife and children, friends and allies, should suffer for the fa¬
thers offence!
No man shall marry until he. b be 25, no woman till she he
20, c nisi aliter dispensatumfuerit. If one ddie, the other party
shall not marry till six months after ; and, because many fami¬
lies are compelled to live niggardly, exhaust and undone by
great dowers, e none shall be given at all, or very little, and
that, by supervisors,rated: they that are foul shall have a greater
portion; if fair, none at all, or very little ; f however, not to
exceed such arate as those supervisors shall think fit. And when
once they come to those years, poverty shall hinder no man
from marriage, or any other respect ; § but all shall be rather
inforced than hindered, h except they be 1 dismembered,' or
grievously deformed, infirm, or visited with some enormous
hereditary disease, in body or mind : in such cases, upon a
great pain or mulct kman or woman shall not marry; other
order shall be taken for them to their content. If people
over-abound, they shall be eased by Colonies.
m No man shall wear, weapons in any city. The same attire
shall be kept, and that proper to several callings, by which
they shall be distinguished. n Luxus funerum shall be taken
away, that intempestive expence moderated, and many others.
Brokers, takers of pawns, biting usurers, I will not admit ;
yet, because hie cum hominibus non cum diis agitur0 we con¬
verse here with men, not with gods, and for the hardness of
mens hearts, I will tolerate some kind of usury. If we were
honest, I confess, (siprobi essemus ) we should have no use
of it; but, being as it is, we must necessarily admit it. How¬
soever most divines contradict it,
(Dicimus inficias ; sed vox ea sola reperta est)
: a Lib. 24. b Aliter Aristoteles— a man at 25, a woman at 20. Polit. <=Lex
olim Lycurgi. . hodie Chmensinm ; .Vide Plutarcbum, Riccium, 'Hemmingium, .
Arniseum, Nevisanum, et alios de hac quiestione. _ dAlfredus. ^Apud La-
cones olim virgines sine dote nubebant Boter 1. 3. c. 3. fLege cautum non
ita pridem apud Venetos, ne quis patritius dotem excederet 1500 coron. S' Bax.
Synag. Jud. Sic Jndsei. Leo Afer, Africa descript ne siht aliter incontientes, ob
reipub. bonum, ut August Csesar. orat ad coelibes Romanos olim edocuit.
h Morbo laborans, qui in prolem facile diffunditur, ne genus humanum feeda con-
tagione ladatur, juventate cast ratur : muliere3 tales procul a consortio virorum ab-
legantur, &c. Hector Boethius, hist lib. 1. de vet. Scotorum moribus. 1 Spe-
ciosissimi juvenes liberis dabunt operam. Plato, 5. de legibus. k The Saxons,
exclude dumb, blind, leprous, and such like persons, from all inheritance, as we do
fools. 1 Ut olim Romani, Hispani hodie. See. m Ricci us, lih. 11, cap.
5. de Sinarum expedit. Sic Hispani cogunt IV] a tiros arma deponere. So it is in most
Italian cities. E Idem Plato, 12, de legibus. It hath ever been immo¬
derate. Vide Gail. Stackinm, antiq. convival. lib. 1. cap. 26. ° Plato, 9. de
legibus.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
97
it must be winked at by politicians. And yet some great doc¬
tors approve of it, Calvin, Bucer, Zanchius, P. Martyr, be¬
cause, by so many grand lawyers, decrees of emperours,
princes statutes, customs of common-wealths, churches ap¬
probations, it is permitted, &e. I will therefore allow it; but
to no private persons, not to every man that will ; to orphans
only, maids, widows, or such as by reason of their age, sex,
education, ignorance of trading, know not otherwise how to
employ it; and those, so approved, not to let it out apart, but
to bring their money to a common bank which shall be allow¬
ed in every city, as in Genoua, Geneva, Noremberg, Venice,
at b5, 6, 7? not above 8 per centum , as the supervisors, or
cerarii prcefecti, shall think fit. c And, as it shall not be lawful
for each man to be an usurer that will, so shall it not be lawful
for all to take up money at use— not to prodigals and spend-'
thrifts, but to merchants, young tradesmen, and such as stand
in need, or know honestly how to employ it, whose necessity,
cause, and condition, the said supervisors shall approve of.
1 will have mo private monopolies, to enrich one man, and
beggar a multitude — d multiplicity of offices, of supplying by
deputies : weights and measures the same throughout, and
those rectified by the primum mobile, and suns motion ;
threescore miles to a degree, according to observation : 1000
geometrical paces to a mile, five foot to a pace, twelve inches
to a foot, &c. and, from measures known, it is an easie matter
to rectifie weights, &c. to cast up all, and resolve bodies by
algebra, stereometry.
I hate wars, if they be not ad populi salutem, upon urgent
occasion.
Odimus accipitrem, quia semper vivit in armis.
e Offensive wars, except the cause be very just, 1 will not allow
of: for I do highly magnifie that saying of Hannibal to
Scipio, in ftivy — It had been a blessed thing for you and us,
if God had given that mind to our predecessors , that you had.
aAs those Lombards beyond seas, (though with some reformation) mons pie-
tatis, or bank of charity, (as Malines terms it, cap 33. Lex-Mercat. part-2.) that
lend money upon easie pawns, or take money upon adventure for mens- lives.
bThat proportion will make merchandise^ increase, land dearer, and- better im¬
proved, as he hath judicially proved in his tract of usury, exhibited to the Parlia¬
ment anno 1621. .. ' c Hoc 'fere Zanchius, com. in 4. cap. ad Ephes. aequis-
simam vocat usuram et charitati Christianse cocsentaneam, modo.non exigant, &c.
nec omnes dent ad foenus, sed ii qui in pecuniis bona habent, et ob setatem, sexum,
artis'alicujus ignorantiam, non possunt uti. Nec omnibus, sed mercatoribus, et iis
qui honeste impendent, &c. d Idem apud Persas olim. Lego Brisonium.
eIdem Plato, de legibus. f Lib, 30 Optimum qiiidem fnerat earn patribus
nostris mentem a Diis datam esse, ut vos Ituliss, nos- Africa; imperio content! essemus.
Neque eninv Sicilia aat Sardinia 'satis digna pretia sunt pro tot classibus, &c.
VOL. I
98 DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
been content with Italy , we with Aflrick. For neither Sicily
nor Sardinia are worth such cost and pains, so many fleets
are armies , or so many famous captains lives. Omnia prim
tentanda : fair means shall first be tried. a Peragit tranquilla
potestas , Quod violenta neqidt. I will have them proceed
with all moderation ; but (hear you !) Fabius my general, not
Minutius; nambqui consilio nititur, plus hostibus nocet, ,
quam qui, sine animi rations , viribus : and, in such wars, to
abstain as much as is possible from ^depopulations, burning of
towns, massacring of infants, &c. F or defensive wars, I
will have forces still ready at a small warning, by land and sea,
a prepared navy, souldiers in procinctu, et, quam d Bonfinius
apud Hungaros suos vulti vir gam f err earn, and money
which is nervus belli, still in a readiness and a sufficient,
revenue, a third part (as in old e Rome and Egypt) reserved
for the common-wealth ; to avoid those heavy taxes and
impositions, as well to defray this charge of wars, as also
all other publick defalcations, expences, fees, pensions, repa¬
rations, chaste sports, feasts, donaries, rewards, and entertain¬
ments.' . All things in this nature especially I will have ma¬
turely done, and with great f deliberation : ne quid g temere,
ne quid remisse, ac timide flat. Sed quo fler or hospes ? To
prosecute the rest would require a volume. Manum de ta-
belld ! I have been over-tedious in this subject : I could have
here willingly ranged ; but these straits wherein I am includ¬
ed will not permit.
From common-wealths and cities, I will descend tofamilies,
which have as many corrosives and molestations, as frequent
discontents, as the rest. Great affinity there is betwixt a poli¬
tical and ceconomical body ; they differ only in magnitude
and proportion of business (so Scaliger h writes): as they
have both, likely, the same period, as Tlodin and kPeucer hold,
out of Plato, six or seven hundred years, so, many times,
they have the same means of their vexation and overthrows;
as, namely, riot, a common ruine of both, riot in building,
riot in profuse spending, riot in appar el, &c. be it in what kind
soever, it produceth the same effects. A ‘chorographer of ours,
speaking obiter of ancient families, why they are so frequent
in the north, Continue so long, are so soon extinguished in the
south, and so few, gives no other reason but this, luxus omnia
* Claud) an. bThucydides. depopnlatione agroram, incendiis,
et ejusmodi factis immanibus. Plato. _ d Hungar. dec. 1. lib. 9. eSesel-
lius, lib; 2. de repub. Gal. valde enim est indecorum, ubi quid prater opinionem
accidit, dicere. Non putaram, prsesertim si res prascaveri potuerit Livius, lib, 1.
Dion. 1. 2. Diodorus Siculus, lib. 2. f Peragit tranquilla potestas. Quod
violenta nequit. Claudian. sBellura nee timendum nec provocandum.
Plin. Panegvr. Trajano. h Lib. 3. poet cap. 19. 'Lib. 4. de
repub. cap. 2. bPeucer. lib. 1. de divinat. i Cambden, in Cheshire.
democrjtus to the reader.
dissipavit, riot hath consumed all. Fine cloaths and curious
buildings came into this island, as he notes in his annals, not
so many years since, non sine dispendio Jiospitalitatis, to the
decay of hospitality. Howbeit, many times that word is mis¬
taken ; and, under the name of bounty and hospitality, is
sbrowded riot and prodigality ; and that, which is eondemnable
in it self well used, hath been mistaken heretofore, is become:
by its abuse, the bane and utter ruine of many a noble family,
for some men live like the rich glutton, consuming themselves
and their substance by continual feasting and invitations, —
with a Axylos in Homer, keep open house for all comers, giv¬
ing entertainmentto such as visit them, bkeeping a table beyond
their means, and a company of idle servants (though not so
frequent as of old)— are blown up on a sudden, and (as Actagon
was by his bounds) devoured by their kinsmen, friends, and
multitude of followers. cIt is a wonder that Paulus Jovius
relates of our northern countreys, what an infinite deal of
meat we consume on our tables ; that I may truly say, ’tis not
bounty, not hospitality, as it is often abused, but riot in excess,
gluttony, and prodigality ; a ineer vice : it brings in debt, want,
and beggary, hereditary diseases,eousumes their fortunes, and
overthrows the good temperature of their bodies. To this I
might here well add their inordinate expenee iu building, those
phantastical houses, turrets, walks, parks, &c. gaming, excess
of pleasure, and that prodigious riot in apparel, by which
means they are compelled to break up house, and creep into
holes. Sesellius, in his common wealth of d France, gives three
reasons why the French nobility were so frequently bankrupts;
First, because they have so many law-suits and contentions ,
one upon another, which were tedious and costly : by which
means it came to pass, that commonly lawyers bought them out
of their possessions . A second cause was their riot ; they
lived beyond their means, and were therefore swallowed up
by merchants . (La-Nove, a French writer, yields five reasons
of his countrey-mens poverty, to the same effect almost, and
thinks verily, if the gentry of France were divided into ten parts,
eight of them would be found much impaired by sales, mort¬
gages, and debts, or wholly sunk in their estates.) The last
was immoderate excess 'in apparel, which consumed their reve-
aIliad. lib. 6. 1:1 Vide Puteani Comum ; Goclenium de portentosis coenis
nostrorum temporum. c Mirabile dictu est, quantum opsoniorum una domus
singulis diebus absumat ; sterauntur mens® in omnes pene horas, calentibus semper
eduliis, descript. Brjtan. d Lib. 1. de rep. Ga'llorum. Quod tot lites et
caussse forenses alias ferantur eValiis, in iromensum p.roducantur, et magnos sump-
'tos.fJBqnirant ; unde fit ut juris administri plerumque nobiiium possessiones adquirant,
tunbapiod sumptuose vivant, et a mercatoribus absorbs antur, et spleudissime ves-
oaulur, &e. '
100
DEMOGRITTJS TO THE READER.
nues, How this concerns and agrees with our present state,
look you. But of this elsewhere. As it is in a mans body — if
either head, heart, stomach, liver, spleen, or any one part be
misaffected, all the rest suffer with it — so it is with this ceco-
nomical body : if the head be naught, a spendthrift, a drunk¬
ard, a whoremaster, a gamester, how shall the family live at
ease ? a Ipsa si cupiat, Salus servare prorsus non potest hanc
familiam; (as Demea said in the comedy) safety herself can¬
not save it. A good, honest, painful man many times , hath a
shrew to his wife — asickly, dishonest, slothful, foolish, careless
woman to his mate — a proud, peevish flurt, a liquorish, prodigal
quean and by that means all goes to ruin : or, if they differ in
nature — he is thrifty, she spends all ; he wise, she sottish and
soft— what agreement can there be ? what friendship ? Like .
that of the thrush and swallow in iEsop; instead of mutual
love, kind compel lations, whore and thief is heard ; they fling'
stools at one anothers heads. b Quce intemperies vexat, hanc
familiam ? All enforced marriages commonly produce such
effect; or, if on their behalfs it be well, as to live and agree
lovingly together, they may have disobedient and unruly chil¬
dren, that take ill courses to disquiet them \ c their son is a
thief a spendthrift, their daughter a whore; a d stepmother,
or a daughter in law, distempers all; eor else, for want of means,
many tortures arise — debts, dues, fees, dowries, joy ntures, lega¬
cies to be paid, annuities issuing out; by means of which, they
have not wherewithall to maintain themselves in that pomp as
their predecessors have done, bring up or bestow their children
to their callings, to their birth and quality, f and will not de¬
scend to their present fortunes. Oftentimes too, to aggravate
the rest, concurr many other inconveniences — unthankful
friends, decayed friends, bad neighbours, negligent servants,
(g servi furaces, versipelles, callidi, occlusa sihi mille clavibus
reserant, furtimque rapt ant, consumunt, liguriunt) casualties, ;
taxes, mulcts, chargeable offices, vain expences, entertainments,
loss of stock, enmities, emulations, frequent invitations, losses,
- suretiship, sickness, death of friends, and (that which is the
gulf of all) improvidence, ill husbandry, disorder and confu¬
sion ; by which means they are drenched on a sudden in their
estates, and at unawares precipitated insensibly into an inex¬
tricable labyrinth of debts, cares, woes, want, grief, dis¬
content and melancholy it self.
aTer. b Amphit. Plant. c Paling. Filins ant fur. a Cains cum.
mure, duo galli simul in sede, et glotes binat nunquam vivunt sine lite. . eRes
aognsta dorni. f When pride and beggary meet in- a family, they roar and'ripwl,
and cause as many flashes of discontents, as Are and water, when they concur,* 4iake
thander-claps in the skies. 2 Plautus, Aulular.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
J01
I have done with families, and will now briefly run over
some few sorts and conditions of men. The most secure,
happy, jovial, and merry in the worlds esteem, are princes and
great men, free from melancholy; but, for their cares, miseries,
suspicions, jealousies, discontents, folly, and madness, I refer
you to Xenophons Tyrannus, where king1 Hieron discourseth
at large with Simonides the poet, of this subject. Of all others,
they are most troubled with perpetual fears, anxieties, inso¬
much, that (as he said in a Valerius) if thou knewest with
what cares and miseries this robe were stuffed, thou wouldst
not stoop to take it up. Or, put case they be secure and free
from fears and discontents, yet they are void b of reason too
oft, and precipitate in their actions. Read all our histories,
quas de stultis prodidere stulti — Iliades, JEneides, Annales— *
and what is the subject ?
Stultorum regum et pbpulorum. continet eestus.
How mad they are, how furious, and upon small occasions*
rash and inconsiderate in their proceedings, how they dote,
every page almost will witness :
- — - — delirant reges, plectuntur AchiviT
Next in place, next in miseries and discontents, in all man¬
ner of hairbraiii’d actions, are great men : procul a Jove , procul
afulmine: the nearer, the worse. If they live iu court, they
are up and down, ebb and flow with their princes favours, (In~
genium vultu statque caditque suo~) now aloft, to morrow down,
(as cPolybius describes them)7i&e so many casting counters, now
of gold, to morrow of silver, that vary m worth as thecompu~
tant will ; now they stand for unites, to morrow for thousands;
now before all, and anon behind. Beside, they torment one
another with mutual factions, emulations ; one is ambitious,
another enamoured ; a third, in debt, a prodigal, over-runs his
fortunes ; a fourth, solicitous with cares, gets nothing, &c.
But, for these mens discontents, anxieties, I refer you to Lu¬
cians tract, de mercede conductis, d iEneas Sylvius, (libidinis
et stultitice servos, he calls them) Agrippa, and many others.
Of philosophers and scholars, prise® sapientice dictatores ,
I have already spoken in general terms. Those superintend¬
ents of wit and learning, men above men, those refined men,
minions of the Muses,
aLib.7. cap. 6. b Pellitur in bellis sapientia ; vi geritur res. Vetus pro-
verbium, Ant regem ant fatuum nasci oportere. c Lib. 1. hist. Rom. similes
abaculoriim calcnlis, secundutb computantis arbitrium, modo serei sunt, rnodo aurei;
ad nutum regis, nunc beati sunt, nunc miseri. d iErumnosique Solones, in
Sa. 3. De. miser, curialium.
102 DEMOCRITUS TO T«E READER.
- - — 2 mentcmque habere qtieis boiiam,
Et esse b eorculis , datum est. - — _
c these acute and subtle sopliisters, so much honoured, have
as much need of hellebore as others.
- d O medici, mediam pertundite venam.
Read Lucians Piscator, and tell how he esteemed them; .
Agrippas tract of the Vanity of Sciences; nay read their own
works, their absurd tenents, prodigious paradoxes, et risnm te-
neatis amici ? You shall find that of Aristotle true, nullum
magnum, ingenium sinemixtura dementice ; they have a worm,
as well as others: you shall find a phantastical strain, a fustian,
a bombast, a vain glorious humour, an affected stile, &c. like a
prominent thred in an uneven wo ven cloth, runparall el through¬
out their works ; and they that teach wisdom, patience, meek¬
ness, are the very est dizards, hairbrains, and most discontent.
e In the multitude of wisdom is grief; and he that encregseth
wisdom , encreaseth sorrow. I need not quote mine author.
They that laugh and contemn others, condemn the world of
folly, deserve to be mocked, are as giddy-headed, and lie as
open, as any other. fDemocritus, that common fiouter of folly,
was ridiculous himself : barking Menippus, scoffing Lucian,
satyrical Lucilius, Petronius, Varro, Persius, &c. may be cen¬
sured with the rest ; Loripedem rectus derideat, JEthiopem
albus. Bale, Erasmus, Hospinian, Vives, Kemnisius, explode,
as a vast ocean of Obs and Sols, school divinity ; § a labyrinth
of intricable questions, unprofitable contentions : incredihilem
delirationem, one calls it. If school divinity be so Censured,
subtilis h Scotus lima veritatis, Occam irrefragabilis, cujus
ingenium cetera oitinia ifigeniu subvertit, $c. Bacanthrope,
Doctor Desolutus, and Corculum Theologies Thomas himself,
Doctor 1 Scrdphicus, ciii dictavit, Angelus, fyc.. what shall
become of humanity ? Ats stulta, ivhat can she plead ? What
can her followers say for themselves ; Much learning k cere-
diminuit-brum, bath crackt their sconce, and taken such root,
that tribus Anticyris caput insanabile, hellebore it self can do
no good, nor that renowned 1 lauihorn of Epictetus, by which
if any man studied, he should boas wise as he was. But all will
not serve. Rhetoricians, fit ostenlalionem loqugcitdtis, multa
agitant — out of their volubility of tongue, will talk much to
aF. Bouses Epid, lib. 1. c. 13. bHoc. cognomento cohonestati Romse, qui
cseteros mortales sapierttia praestarent. Testis Plin. lib, 7. cap. 34. c Insanire
parant certa ratione modoaue : mad by the book, they. d Juvenal. e Solo¬
mon. f Communis irrisor stuititias. S Wit, whither wilt ? b Scaliger,
exereitat. 324. Wit.ejus. k Ennius. » Lucian. Ter mille drachmis
. o!im empta : studens inde sapientiam. adipiscetur
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
103
no purpose. Orators can perswade other men what they will,
quo volunt unde volunt ; move, pacifie, &c. but cannot settle
their own brains. What saith Tully ? Malo indisertam pru-
deutiam, quam loquacem stultitiam ; and (as a Seneca seconds
him) a wise mans oration should not be polite or solicitous.
b Fabius esteems no better of most of them, either in speech,
action, gesture, than as men beside themselves, insanos de~
clamatores ; so doth Gregory ; non mihi sapit qui sermone ,
sed quifactis , sapit . Make the best of him, a good oratour is
a turn- coat, an evil man ; bonus orator pessimus vir ; his
tongue is set to sale; he is a meer voice (as ehe said of a
nightingal); dal sine mente sonum ; an hyperbolical liar, a
flatterer, a parasite, and (as d Ammianus Marcellinus will) a
corrupting cosener, one that doth more mischief by his fair
speeches, than he that bribes by money ; for a man may with
more facility avoid him that circumvents by money, than him
that deceives with glosing terms ; which made e Socrates so
much abhor and explode them. fFracastorius, a famous
poet, freely grants all poets to be mad; so doth s Scaliger ;
and who doth not ? (Aut insanit homo , aut versus Jacit, Hor.
Sat A. 1. 2. Insanirelubet,i.e.versus componere , Virg . Ecl.S.
So Servius interprets) all poets are mad, a company of bitter
satyrists, detractors, or else parasitical applauders; and what
is poetry it self, but (as Austin holds) vinum erroris ah ebriis
doctoribus propinatum ? You may give that censure of them
in general, which Sir Thomas More once did of Germaims
Brixius poems in particular.
■ , — - - — - vehuntur
In rate Stabilise : sylvam habitant Furisei
Budaeus, in an epistle of his to Lupsetus, will have civil law
to he the tower of wisdom ; another honours physick, the
quintessence of nature ; a third tumbles them both .down, and
sets up the flag of his own peculiar science. Your supercilious
critieks, grammatical triflers, note-makers, curious antiqua¬
ries, find out all the ruines of wit, ineptiarum deiicias*
amongst the rubbish of old writers : hpro stultis Jiabent, nisi
aliquid sufficiant invenire , quod in aliorum scriptis vert ant
vitio: all fools with them that cannot find fault : they correct
others, and are hot in a cold cause, puzzle themselves to find
out how many streets in Rome, houses, gates, towers, Ho-
a Epist. 21. 1. lib. Non oportet orationem sapientis esse politam aut solicitam.
b Lib. 3. cap. 13. Multo anhelitu jactatione, furentes, pectus, frontem c«dentes, &c.
e Lipsius, Voces sunt, praeterea nihil. d Lib. 30. Plus mali facere videtur qui
oratione quam qui pretio quemvis corrumpit ; nam, &c. e In Gorg. Platonis.
f In Naugerio. S Si furor sit Lyse us, &c. quoties furit, furit, furit, amans, bibens, et
poeta, &c. h Morns, Utop. lib. 11.
104 DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
mers countrey, iEueas mother, Niobes daughter, an Sappho
publica fuerit ? ovum *prius extiter it, an gallina? fyc et
alia, quce dediscenda essent, si scires, as b Seneca holds — -
what clothes the senators did wear in Rome, what shews, how
they sate, where they went to the close stool, how many
dishes in a mess, what sauce ; which, for the present, for an
historian to relate, (c according to Ludovic. Vives) is very ri¬
diculous, is to them most precious elaborate stuff, they ad¬
mired for it, and as proud, as triumphant in the mean time
for this discovery, as if they had won a city, or conquered a
province as rich as if they had found a mine of gold ore.
Quosvis auctores absurdis commentis suis percacdnt et stereo ~
runt, one saifh : they bewray and daub a company of books
and good authors, with their absurd comments , {cor recto-
rum sterquilinia d Scaliger calls them) and shew their wit in
censuring others,— a company of foolish note-makers, hum¬
ble-bees, dors or beetles: inter stercord ut plurimum versan-
tur, they rake over all those rubbish and dunghills, and pre¬
fer a manuscript many times before the Gospel itself, e the-
saurum criticum, before any treasure, and with their delea-
turs, alii leguntsic, meus codex sic habet, with their postremm
editiones, annotations, castigations, &c. make books dear,
themselves ridiculous, and do no body good : yet, if any man
dare oppose or contradict, they are mad, up in arms oh a sud¬
den ; how many sheets are written in defence, how bitter in¬
vectives, what apologies? f Epiphy Hides kce sunt et mere nugm.
But 1 dare say no more of, for, with, or against them, be¬
cause I am liable to their lash, as well as others. - Of these
and the rest of our artists and philosophers, 1 will generally
conclude, they are a kind of mad men, (as § Seneca esteems of
them) to make doubts and scruples, how to read them truly,
to mend old authors, but will not mend their own lives, or
teach us ingenia sanare, memoriam offidorum ingerere, ac
Jidem in rebus humanis retinere, to keep our wits in order, or
rectify our manners. Numquid tibi non demens videtur, si istis
operam impenderit ? is not he mad that draws lines with
Archimedes, whiles his house is ransacked, and his city be¬
sieged, when the whole world is in combustion, — or we,
whilest our souls are in danger, (mors sequitur, vita fugit)
to spend our time in toys, idle questions, and things of no
worth?
That h lovers are mad, I think no man will deny. Amare
simul et sapere ipsi Jovi non datur ; Jupiter himself cannot
intend both at once.
a Macrob. Sator. 7. 16. bEpist, 16. « Lib. de canssis corrnp. artimn.
d Lib. 2. in Ansociiim, cap. 19. et 32. eEdit- 7. volum. Iano Grufero..
f Aristophanis Ranis. .. s Lib. de beneficiis. , b Delirins et amens dicatur
men to. Hor. Seneca.
DEMOCRITUS. TO THE READER.
105
a Non bene convenrunt, nec in una sede morantur,
Majestas et amor.
Tully when he was invited to a second marriage, replied,
he could not simul amare etsdpere, he wise and love both
together. b Est Orcus ille ; vis est immedicabilis ; est ra¬
bies insana: love is madness, a hell, an incurable disease;
impotentem et insanam libidinem c Seneca calls it, an impotent
and raging lust. 1 shall dilate this subj ect apart : in the mean
time let lovers sigh out the rest.
d Nevisanus the lawyer holds it for an axiome, most women
are fools , (e consilium feminis invalidum ) Seneca, men, be
they young' or old; who doubts it? youth is mad, as Elius in
Tully, Stulii adolescentuli, old age little better, deliri senes,
Sfc, Theophrastus, in the 107 year of his age, f said he then
began to be wise, turn sapere ccepit , and therefore lamented
his departure. If wisdom come so late, where shall we find a
wise man ? our old ones dote at threescore and ten. I would
cite more proofs and a better author; but for the. present, let
one fool point at another. g Nevisanus hath as hard an
opinion of > rich men —wealth and ivisdom cannot dwell to¬
gether; stultitiqm patiuntur opes ; i and they do commonly
k infatuate cor hominis, besot men ; and as we See it, fools
have fortune : 1 sapientia noninvenitur in terra suaviter vi-
ventium. For, beside a natural contempt of learning, which
accompanies such kind of men, innate idleness, (for they
will take no pains) and which m Aristotle observes, ubi mens
plurima, ibi minima for tuna ; ubi plurima for tuna, ibi mens
perexigua; great wealth and little wit go commonly together;
they have as much brains, some of them, in their heads as
in their heels ; besides this inbred neglect of liberal sciences,
and all arts, which should jexcolerementem, polish the mind,
they have most part some gullish humour or other, by which
they are led; one is an Epicure, an atheist, a second a
gamester, a third a whoremaster, (fit subjects all for a satyrist
to work upon)
- n Hie nuptarum insanit amoribus, hie puerorum ; —
0 one is mad of hawking, hunting, cocking ; another of ca¬
rousing, horse-riding, spending; a fourth, of building, fight¬
ing, &c.
a Ovid. Met b Plutarch. Amatorio est amor insanus. c E pist '39.
dSylvae nuptialis. 1. 1. num. II. Ornnes mulieres, ut plurimum stulte. e Ari¬
stotle. fDolere se dixit, quod turn vita egrederetur. g Lib. 1. num. 11.
Sapientia et diviti® vix simul possideri possunt. h They get their wisdom by
eating pie-crust,, some. ‘ Xp/xaTa Tot; 5v'/)Toi?- ytvBToa a.(ppoavvvi. Opes qui.
dem mortalibus sunt amentia. Theognis. k Fortuna, nimiumquem fovet, stul-
tumfacit. . 1 Joh. 28. m Mag. moral, lib. 2. et lib. 1. sat. 4. « Hor.
ser. 1. sat. 4. ° Insana gula, insanse obstructiones, insanam venandi studium—
Discordia demens. Virg. iEn.
306
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
Insanit veteres statuas Damasippas emendo;
Damasippus bath an humour of his own, to he talktof; aHe-
liodorus the Carthaginian another. In a word, as Sealiger con¬
cludes of them all, they are statues erect gb stultitiee, the very
statues or pillars of folly. Chuse, out of all stories, him that
hath been most admired ; you shall still find multa ad tan¬
dem, multa ad vituperationem magnijica, as b Berosus of Se-
miramis : omnes mortales militia, triumphis divitiis, Sfc. turn et
luxu, ccede, coeterisque vitiis, antecessit : as she had some good,
so had she many bad parts.
Alexander, a worthy man, but furious in his anger, over¬
taken in drink : Caesar and Scipio valiant and wise, but vain¬
glorious, ambitious : Vespasian a worthy prince, but covetous :
c Hannibal, as he had mighty vertues, so had he many vices ;
unam virtutem milie vitia comitantur, as Maehiavel of Cos-
mus Medices, he had two distinct persons in him. I will de¬
termine of them all, they are like these double or turning pic¬
tures ; stand before which, you see a fair maid on the one
side, an ape on the other, an owle : look upon them at the
first sight, all is well; but farther examine, you shall find
them wise on the one side, and fools on the other; in some
few things praise- worthy, in the rest incomparably faulty. I
will say nothing of their diseases, emulations, discontents*
wants, and such miseries ; let Poverty plead the rest in Ari¬
stophanes Plutus.
Covetous men, amongst others, are most mad ; d they have
all the symptoms of melancholy — fear, sadness, suspicion, &c,
as shall be proved in his proper place :
Danda est hellebori multo pars maxima avaris.
And yet, methinks, prodigals are much madder than they*
be of what condition they will, that bear a publick or private
purse ; as a e Dutch writer censured Richard the rich duke of
Cornwal, suing to be emperour, for his profuse spending, qui
effudii pecuniam ante pedes principum electorum sicut aquam ,
that scattered money like water; I do censurethem. Stulta
Anglia, (saifh he) quee tot denariis sponte est privata ; stulti
principes Alemaniee, qui nobile jus mum pro pecunid vendi -
derunt. ■ Spend-thrifts, bribers, and bribe-takers, are fools ;
and so are fall they that cannot keep, disburse, or spend,
their moneys well.
aHeliodorus Carthaginiensis ad extremum orbis sarcophagotestamento me'hicjussi
condier, ut viderem an qnis insanior ad me visendum asqne ad hsec loca penetraret
Ortelius, in Gad. bIf it be Ms work; which Gasper Yeretus suspects. c Livy.
Ingemtes virtutes ; ingentia vitia. 3 Hor. Quisquis ambitione mala ant argenti f
pallet amore ; Quisquis luxuria, tristique superstitione. Per. e Chronica Slavonica,
ad annum 1257. de cujus peennia jam incredibilia dixerunt, •*- A fool and his money
are soon parted,
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
107
I might say the like of angry, peevish, envious, ambitious
(a Aniicyras melior sorbere mer acas) , Epi cures, atheists, sehism-
aticks, hereticks : hi omnes habent imaginationem Icesam
(saith Nymannus ;) and their madness shall be evident, 2
Tim. 3. 9. bFabatus, an Italian, holds sea-faring men all mad ;
the ship is mad, for it never stands still: the mariners are mad ,
to expose themselves to such imminent dangers : the waters are
raging mad, in perpetual motion: the winds are as mad as
the rest : they know not whence they come , whither they would
go : and those men are maddest of all, that go to sea : for one
fool at home, they find forty abroad. He was a mad matt
that said it ; and thou, perad venture as mad to read it.
c Felix Platerus is of opinion aH alchymists are' mad, out
of their wits ; d Athenasus saith as much of fidlers, et Musarunt
luscinias, e musicians ; omnes tibicines insaniunt ; ubi semel
efflant, dvolat illico mens ; in comes musick at one ear ; out
goes wit at another. Proud and vain glorious persons are
certainly mad ; and so are f lascivious ; I can feel their pulses
heat hither ; horn mad some of them, to let others lye with
their wives, and wink at it.
To insist s in all particulars, were an Herculean task,
to h reckon up Hnsanas substructions, insanos labores, insa-
num luxum , mad labours, mad books, endeavours, carriages,
gross ignorance, ridiculous actions, absurd gestures, ircsemazft
gulam, insaniam villarum, insana jurgia, as Tully terms
them, 'madness of villages, stupend structures, as those
-Egyptian pyramids, labyrinths and Sphinges, which a com¬
pany of crowned asses, ad ostentationem opum , vainly built,
when neither the architect nor king that made them, or to
what use and purpose, are yet known. To insist in their
hypoerisie, inconstancy, blindhesss, rashness, dementem te-
meritatem, fraud, cozenage, malice, anger, impudence, in¬
gratitude, ambition, gross superstition, k tempora infecta et
adulatione sordida, as in Tiberius times, such base flattery,
stupend, parasitical fawningand colloguing, &c. brawls, con¬
flicts, desires, contentions, it would ask an expert Vesalius to
anatomize every member. Shall I say f Jupiter himself,
Apollo, Mars, &e. doted : and monster-conquering Hercu¬
les, that subdued the world, and helped others, could not
8 Oral, de imag. — Ambitiosus et audax nayiget Anticyras. b Navis stulfa,
qtrae continuo movetur ; naute stulti, qui se periculis exponunt ; aqua insana, quse sic
fremit, :&c. aer jactatur, &c. qui man se conimitKt, stoMuin unum terra fu-
giens, 40 inari invenit. Gasper Ens. Moros. c Cap. de alien, mentis.
dDipnosophist. iib. 8. ' e Tibicines mente capti. Erasm. CKil. 4. cen. 7,
fiProv. 30. Insana libido. — Hie, rogo, non furor est ? non est hsec- mentula demens?
Mart. ep. 74. i. 8. .? Mille puellarnm et puerorum mille furores, h Uter
estinsanior horunx? Hor. Gvid.i.Virg- Plin. ipiin. lib. 36. . * Tacitus,
108
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
relieve himself in this : bat mad he was atlast. And where
shall a man walk, converse with whom, in what province,
city, and not meet with Signior Deliro, or Hei’cules Furens,
Msenades, and Corybantes Their speeches say no less. aFJ
fungis nati homines ; or else they fetched their pedigree from
those that were struck by Sampson with the jaw-bone of an
ass, or from Deucalion and Pyrrha’s stones ; for durum genus
sumus b marmorei sumus; we are stony-hearted, and savour
too much of the stock, as if they had all heard that inchant-
ed horn of Astolpho (that English duke in Ariosto), which
never sounded but all his auditors were mad, and for fear
ready to make away themselves ; c or landed in the mad haven
in the Euxine sea of Daphnis imam, which had a secret qua-
lity to dementate ; they are a company of giddy-heads, after¬
noon men ; it is a midsomer-moon still, and the dog-dayes
last all the year long : they are all mad. Whom snail I then
except? Ulricus Huttenusd Memo; nam Nemo omnibus horis
sapit ; Nemo nascitur sine vitiis '; crimine Memo caret ; Me¬
mo' sorte sua vivit cohtentus ; Nemo in amor e sapit ; Nemo
bonus ; Nemo sapiens ; Nemo est ex. omni parte heatus, fyc.
and therefore Nicholas Nemo, or Monsieur Nobody, shall go
free : Quid valeat nemo, nemo referre potest . But whom
shall X expert in the second place ? such as are silent : vir sa¬
pit qui pauca loquitur ; e no better way to avoid folly and
madness, than by taciturnity. Whom in a third ; all sena¬
tors., magistrates ; for all fortunate men are wise, and con¬
querors valiant, and so are all great men ; non est bonum
ludere cum diis ; they are wise by authority, good by their
office and place ; his licet impune pessimos esse, (some say) we
must not speak of them ; neither is it fit : per me sint omnia
protinus alba ; I will not think amiss of them. Whom next?
Stoicks ?. Sapiens Stoicus ; and he alone is subject to no per¬
turbations, (as f Plutarch scoffs at hirn) he is not vexed with
torments, or burnt with fire, foiled by his adversary, sold of
his enemy. Though he he wrinkled, sand-blind , toothless ,
and deformed ; yet he is most beautiful, and like a god, a
king in conceit, though not worth a groat. He never dotes,
never mad , never sad, drunk ; because vertue cannot be taken
a Ovid. 7. Met. E fungis nati homines, ut olim Corinthi primaevi illius loci accolse,
quia stolidi et fatui fungis nati dicebantur. Idem et alibi dicas. _ b Famian.
Strada, de bajulis, de marmore semisculptis. c Arrianns, periplo mans Euxini,
portus ejus meminit, et Gillius. 1. 3. de Bosphor. Thracio. Et laorus insana, quse,
allata in convivium, convivas onrnes insania affecit Guliel. _ Stucchius, comment, &c_.
d Lepidum poema, sic inscriptum. e Stultitiam dissimulare non potes, nisi
tacitumitate. fExtortns, non cruciatur ; ambustus, non lasditur ; prostratns
in lucta, non vincitur ; non fit captivus ab hoste venundatus. Et si rugosus, senex,
edentulus, luscus, deformis, fonnosus tamen, et deo similis,.felix, dives, rex, nulling
egens, etsi denario non sit dignus.
109
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
away (as aZeno bolds) by reason of strong apprehension:
but he was mad to say so. bAnticyraz ccelo kuic est opus,aut
dolahra : he had need to he bored, and so had all his fellow's,
as wise as they would seem to be. Chrysippus himself libe¬
rally grants them to be fools as well as others, at certain times,
upon some occasions: amitti virtutem ait per ebrietatem,
aut atribilarium morbum: it may be lost by drunkenness or
melancholy ; he may be sometimes crazed as well as the rest :
c ad summam, sapiens, nisi quum pituita molesta. [ should
here except some cynicks, Menippus, Diogenes, that Theban
Crates, or, to descend to these times, that omniscious, only
wise fraternity d of the Rosie Cross, those great theologues,
politicians, philosophers, physicians, phiiologers, artists, &c.
of whom S. Bridget, Albas Joacchimus, Leieenbergius, and
such divine spirits, have prophesied, and make promise to the
world, if at least there be any such, (Hen. « Neuhusius make-
a doubt of it, f Valentinus Andreas, and others) or an Elias
ArtifextheirTheophrastian master; whom though JLibaviusand
many deride and carp at, yet some will have to be the § renewer
af all arts and sciences, reformer of the world, and now.
living; for so Johannes Montanus Strigoniensis (that great
patron of Paracelsus) contends, and certainly avers h a most
divine man, and the quintessence of wisdom, wheresoever he
is : for he, his fraternity, friends, &c. are all 1 hethrothed to
wisdom , if he may believe their disciples and followers, I
must needs except Lipsius and the pope, and expunge their
name out of the catalogue of fools ; for, besides that parasitical
testimony of Dousa, ' :
A sole exoriente, Meeotidas usque paliides, .
Nemo est, qui Jsisto se sequiparare queat —
Lipsius saith of himself, that he was k humani generis quidam
pcedagogus voce et stylo, a grand signior, a master, a tutor
of us all ; and for thirteen y pars, he brags, how he sowed wis¬
dom in the Low Countreys, (al Ammonius the philosopher
sometimes did in Alexandria) 1 cum humanitate literas, et sa -
pientiam cum prudentid : antistes sapientice, he shall be sapi-
entum octavus. The pope is more than a man, as m his parrots .
often make him— a derni-god ; and besides his holiness can¬
not err, in cathedra belike : and yet some of them have been
a Ilium contendunt non injuria affici, non insania, non inebriari, quia virtus non
eripitur ob constantes comprehensiones. Lips. Phys. Stoic. lib. 3. diffi. 18. b Tarreus
Hebus, epig. 102. 1. 8. /- Hor. . d Fratres sanct. Rosese Crucis. e An
sint, quates sint, unde nomen illud asciverint. fTurri Babel. S Omnium artiuin
et scientiarum instaurator. h Divinus Hie vir. auctor notarum in ep. Rog. Bacon, .ed,
Hambiir, 1608. 1 Sapientise desponsati. k Solus hie est sapiens, alii yolitant
velut umbras. 'In ep. ad Balthas. Moretum. ™ Rejectiunculoe ad Patavum
Felinus cum reliquis. , -
j>EM QCRITUS TO THE READER.
HO
magicians, heretieks, atheists, children; and, as Platina saith
of John 22, Et si vir literatus , multa solidiiatem et levitatem
prce sejerentia egit , solidi et soeordis vir ingenii ; a scholar
sufficient; yet many things he did foolishly. Lightly 1 can say
no more in particular, but in general terms to the rest, they are
all mad, their wits are evaporated, and (as Ariosto feigns, 1. 34}
kept in jars above the moon.
Some lose their wits with love,' some with ambition,
Some', following a lords and men of high condition.
Some in fair jewels rich and costly set,
Others in poetry their wits forget.
Another thinks to be an alcymist,
Till all be spent, and that his number’s mist.
Convietfools they are, mad men upon record ; and, ? am afraid,
past cure, many of them ; b crepunt ingenia; the symptomes
are manifest; they are all of Gotarn parish :
c Quum furor baud dubius, quum sit manifesta phrenesis,
what remains then dbut to send for (lorarios, those officers to
carry them all together for company to Bedlam, and set
Rabelais to be their physician*.
If any man shall ask in the mean time, who I am, that so
boldly censure others ,tunullaneJidbesvitia? Have I no faults ?
e Y es, more than thou hast, whatsoever thou art. Nos numerus
sumus : I confess it again, I am as foolish, as mad as any one.
^ Insanus vobis videor : non deprecor ipse.
Quo minus insanus— - - -
I do not deny it; demens de populo dematur . My comfort is, t
have more fellows, and those of excellent note. And though I
be not so right or so discreet as I should be, yet not so mad,
so bad neither, as thou perhaps takest me to be.
To conclude, this being granted, that all the world is me¬
lancholy, or mad, dotes, and every member of it, I have
ended my task, and sufficiently illustrated that which I took
upon me to demonstrate at first. At this present I have no
more to say. His sanam mentem Democritus ; I can but
wish my self and them a good physician, and all of us a better
mind.
a Magnum virum sequi est sapere some thivik ; othevs desipere. Catul. b Plant.
Menaach. c In Sat. 14. d Or to send for a cook to the Anticyrae, to make
hellebore pottage, settle-brain pottage. e Aliqnantulum tamen inde me solabor,
quod una cum mnltis et sapientibus et celeberrimis viris ipse insipiens sim : quod de se,
Menippns Luciani in Necvomantia. f Petronins, in Catalect.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
Ml
And although, fortheabovenamed reasons, I had a just cause
to undertake this subject, to point at these particular species of
dotage, that so men might acknowledge their imperfections, and
seek to reform what is amiss ; yet I have a more serious intent
at this time ; and — to omit all impertinent digressions— to say
no more of such as are improperly melancholy, or meta¬
phorically mad, lightly mad, or in disposition, as stupid,
angry, drunken, silly, sottish, sullen, proud, vain-glorious,
ridiculous, beastly, pievish, obstinate, impudent, extravagant,
dry, doting, dull,desperate,hair-brain’d,&c. mad, frantick, fool¬
ish, heteroclites, which no new a hospital can hold, no physick
help — my purpose and endeavour is, inthe following discourse
to anatomize this humour of melan choly, through all his parts
and species, as it is an habit, or an ordinary disease, and that
philosophically, medicinally — to shew the causes, symptoms
and several cures of it, that it may be the better avoided ;
moved thereunto for the generality of it, and to do good, it
being a disease so frequent, as b Mercurialis observes, in these
our dayes ; so often happening, saith c liaurentius, m ourniise-
rahle times, as few there are that feel not' the smart of it. Of
the same mind is iElian Montaltus, dMelancthon, and others;
e Julius Caesar Claudinus calls it the fountain of all other dis¬
eases, and so common in this crazed age of ours, that scarce
one of a thousand is free from it; and that splenetick Itypo-
condriacai wind especially, which proceeds from the spleen
and short ribs. Seeing then it is a disease so grievous, so com¬
mon, I know not wherein to do a more general service, and
spend my time better, than to prescribe means how to prevent
and cure so universal a malady, an epidemical disease, that
so often, so much, crucifies the body and mind.
If I have over-shot my self in this which hath been hitherto
said, or that it is (which I am sure some will object) too phan-
tastical, toe light and comical for a divine, too satyricalfor
one of my profession, I will presume to answer with f Eras¬
mus in like case, ’Tis not I, but Democritus : Democritus
dixit : you must consider what it is to speak in ones own or
anothers person, an assumed habit and name; a difference be-
twixt.him that affects or acts a princes, a philosophers, a ma¬
gistrates, a fools part, and him that is so indeed ; and what
aThat, I mean, of Andr. Vale. Ajiolog. mancip. l. 1. et26. ApoL *> Hsec affectio
nostris temporibus frequentissima. « Gap. 15. de Mel. ^DeanimA Nostro boc
saculo morbus frequentissimus. e Consult. 98, A'deo nostris temporibus frequenter
ingruit, ut nullns fere ab ejus labe immunis reperiatur, et omnium'fere morborum
otcasio existat. t Mor. Encom. Si quis calumnietur levius esse quam decet theologum,
aut mordacius quam deceat Christianum. _
112
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
liberty those old satyrists haye had : it is a cento collected
from others : not I, but they, that say it.
Dixero si quid forte jocosius, hoc mihi juris
Cum veniS. dabis - - - - —
Take heed you mistake me not. If I do a little forget my
self, I hope you will pardon it. And to say truth, why should
any man be offended, or take exceptions at it ?
— - a Licuit, semp erque licebit,
Parcere personis, dicere de vitiis.
It lawful was of old, and still will be,
To speak of vice, and let the name go free.
1 hate their vices, not their persons. If any be displeased or
take ought unto himself, let him not expostulate or cavil with
him that said it (so did b Erasmus excuse himself to Dorpius,
si parva licet componere magnis ; and so do I) : hut let him he
angry with himself, that so betrayed and opened his own
faults in applying ittoMmself. c.lfhe be guilty and deserve
it , let him amend, whosoever he .is, and not be angry.’-. ‘.He-
that kateth cor rectionis a fool, Prov. 12. 1. If he be not guilty,
it concerns him not; it is not my freeness of speech, but a
guilty conscience, a gauled back of his own, that makes him
winch.
Suspicione si quis errabit sua,
Et rapiet ad se, quod erit commune omnium,
Stulte nudabit animi conseientiam,
I deny not, this, which I have said, savours alittle of Democritus.
d Quamvis ridentem, dicere verum quid vital? one may speak in
jest, and yet speak truth. It is somewhat tart, I grant it :
acriora orexim excitant emhammata , as he said ; sharp sauces
increase appetite ;
eNec cibus ipse juvat, morsufraudatus aceti.
Object then and cavil what thou wilt, I ward all with Demo¬
critus buckler ; his medicine shall salve it; strike where
thou wilt, and when : Democritus ditit ; Democritus will
answer it. It was written by an idle fellow, at idle times, about
our Saturnaiian or Dionysian feast, when, as he said, nullum
libertati periculum est, servants in old Rome had liberty to
say and do what them list. When our country-men sacrificed
a|Hor. Sat. 4. 1. 1. bEpi. ad Dorpiiim de Moria. Si quispiam offendatur,
et sibi vindicet, non habit quod expostulet cum eo qui scripsit ; ipse, si volet, secum .
agat injuriam, utpote sni proditor, qui declaravit hop ad se proprie pertinere. c Si
quis se Icesum c'lamabit, aut conseientiam prodit suain, aut certe metum. Phsed. 1. 3.
.®sop. Fab. iHor. 6 Mart. 1. 7. 22. flit lubet, feriat : abstergam
hos ictus Democriti pharmaco.
DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
113
to their goddess a Vacuna. and sat tipling by their Vacunal
tires, I writ this, and published this. OimfeAsysv it is neminis
nihil . The time, place, persons, and all circumstances, apo¬
logize for me; and Why may I not then be idle with others?
speak my mind freely ? If you deny me this liberty, upon
these presumptions I will take it : 1 say again, I will take it.
b Si quis est, qui dictum in se inclementius
Existimabit esse, sic existimet.
If any man take exceptions, let him turn the buckle of his
girdle ; I care not. I owe thee nothing, reader : I look for no
favour at thy hands; I am independent : I fear not.
'No, I recant ; I will not ; I care ; I fear ; I confess my
fault, acknowledge a great offence ;
— — — motos prsestat componere fluctus :
I have overshot my self ; I have spoken foolishly, rashly, un¬
advisedly, absurdly; I have anatomized mine own folly.; And
now, methinks, upon a sudden I am awaked as it were out of
a dream ; I have had a raving fit, a phantastical fit, range d*up
and down, in and out ; I have insulted over most kind of men,
abused some, offended others, wronged my self ; and now, be¬
ing recovered, and perceiving mine error, cry with c Orlando,
Solvete mi. Pardon \0 honi !) that which is past ; and I wifi
make you amends in that which is to come : I promise you a
more sober discourse in my following treatise.
If, through weakness, folly, : passion, ddiscontent, ignorance,
I have said amiss, let it be forgotten and forgiven. I acknow¬
ledge that of e Tacitus to be true, Asperm facetiae, ubi nimis ex
hero traxere, cicrem sui memoriam retlinqmmf: a bitter jeast
leaves, a sting behind it; and as an honorable man observes,
1 They fear a salyrists wif, he -their memoir es. I may justly
suspect the worst ; and, though I hope I have wronged no
man, yet, in Medeas words, I will crave pardon,
- — -Illud jam voce extrema pelo,
Ne, si qua noster dubius effudit dolor,
Maneant in ammo verba : sed melior tibi
Memoria nostri subeat ; hasc irm data
Obliterentur - - .
aRusticorura dea prssesse vacantibus et otiosis putabatur, cui post labores agricola
sacrificabat. Plin. 1. 3. c. 12. Ovid. 1. 6. Fast. Jam quoque cum fiunt antique
sacra Vacun*, Ante Vaeunales stantqae sedentque focos. Rosinus. & Ter.
prol. Eunuch. e Ariost. 1. 39. st. 58. d ITt enim ex studiis gaudium, sic
stadia ex hilaritate proveniunt. Plinius Maximo suo, ep. Ity. 8. _ e Annal. 15.
fSir Francis Bacon in his Essaves, now Viscount S, Albanes.
VOL. I.
I
114 DEMOCRITUS TO THE READER.
And, n my last words, tins I do desire,
That what in passion I have said, or ire,
May be forgotten, and a better mind
Be had of us, hereafter as you find.
I earnestly request every private man, as Scaliger did Cardan,
not to take offence. I will conclude in his lines, Si me cogni-
tum haberes non. solum donates- nobis has Jacetias nostras, sed
etiam indignum duceres, tam humanum animum , lene inge -
nium, vel minimam suspicionem depreeari oportere. If thou
knewestmy a modesty and simplicity, tliou wouldst easily
pardon and forgive what is here amiss, or by thee miscon¬
ceived. If hereafter, anatomizing this surly humour, my
hand slip, and, as an unskilful prentice, I launch too deep,
and cut through skin and all at unawares, make it smart, or
cut awry, b pardon a rude hand, an unskilful knife; ’tisa
most difficult thing to keep an even tone, a perpetual tenor,
and not sometimes to lash out ; difficile est satyram non scri-
bere; there be so many objects to divert, inward perturba¬
tions to molest ; and the very best may sometimes err; ali-
quando bonus dormitat Homerus: it is impossible not in so
much to overshoot :
~ — operc in lingo fas est obrepere somnum.
But what needs all this ? I hope there will no such cause of
offence be given ; if there be,
cNemo aliquid recognoseat : nos mentimur omnia.
Fie deny all (my last refuge), recant all, renounce all I have
said, if any man except, and with as much facility excuse, as
he can accuse : but I presume of thy good favour* and gra¬
cious acceptance, gentle reader. Out of an assured hope and
confidence thereof, I will begin.
aQuod Probus Persli (2/oyp^o; virginali verecundia Persium ftrisse dicit, ego,
&c. bQuas aut ineuria fudit, aut humana parum cavit natura. Hor. cPro!.
Plaut '
Lectori male feriato.
TU vero cave sis, edico , quisqiiis es, ne temere sugilles author em
hujusce operis, autcavillator irrideas. Imo novel ex aliorum
censura tacite obloquaris, (vis dicam verbo ?) nequid nasutulus
inepte improbes, aut false fingas. Nam si talis r ever a sit,
qualemprce sefert, Junior Democritus, seniori Demoerito sal¬
tern affinis , aut ejus genium vel tantillum sapiat ; actum de te ;
censor em deque ac delator em a aget e contra (petulant! splene
cum sit); suffldbit te in jocos , comminuet in sales , addo etiam ,
et deo Risui te sacrificctbit.
Iterum moneo, ne quid caviller e, ne (dnm Democritum
Juniorem conviciis infames , aut ignominiose vituperes, de te
non male sentientem ) tu idem audias ab amico cordate, quod
olim vulgus Abderitanum ab b Hippocrate, concivem bene me-
ritum et popular em suum Democritum pro insane Jiabens:
Nee tu, Democrite, sapis ; stulti autem et insani Abderita.
c Abderitan© pectora plebis habes.
Hcec te paiccis admonitum volo, maleferiate Lector . Abi.
aSi me commorit, melius non tangere, clamo. Hor. _ b Hippoc. epist. Da*
mageto. AcGersitus sum, ut Democritum, tamquam insanum, curarem : sed post-
qaam conveni, non, per Jovem, desipientise negotium, sed rerum omnium receptacu-
inm deprehendi; ejasque ingenium demiratus sum. Abderitanos vero tamquam non
sanos accusavi, veratri potione ipsos ,potius eguisse dicens. c Mart.
HER ACLITE, fleas! misero sic convenit cevo :
Nil nisi turpe vides , nil nisi triste vides.
Ride etidm, quantumque lubet, Democrite, ride :
Non nisi vana vides, non nisi stulta vides.
Is fletUf hic risu, modo gaudeat ; unus utrique
Sit licet usque labor , sit licet usque dolor.
Nunc opus est ( nam tosus, eheu ! jam desipit or bis )
Alille Heraclitis, milleque Democritis.
Nunc opus est ( t'anta est insania ) tr an seat omnis
Mundus in Anticyr as, gram, en in Helleborum .
SYNOPSIS
OF THE
FIRST PARTITION.
Impulsive : j Sin, Concupiscence, &c.
Instrumental; | Intemperance, all second causes,
t)f the body r Epidemical, as Plague, Plica, &c.
300 -which < or
are l Particular, as Gout, Dropsie, &c.
rin disposition ; as all perturbations, e
affection, &c.
! Subs. 2. | or mind. ( Or ( Dotage.
V Subs. 3. V 1 Phrensie.
Madness.
j Ecstasie.
• ’ Habits, as ( Eycanthropia. "
Sub* 4 Chorus sanch Viti.
L Hydrophobia.
Possession or obsession of
^ Devils.
^Melancholy. See ef'.
fits ^Equivocations, in Disposition, Improper, &c .'Subsect. 5.
f f Humours, Blood, Phlegm,
o f contained, as J ^
Mernb. 2. contained.
To its ex- . Body J
plication, [a hath ( or
'digression I parts ]
Melancho- / Memb. 3.
ly. in whtch \ Its definition,
18 j Spirits ; vital, natural, ani-
L mal.
r Similar ; sperraatical, or flesh,
J bones, nerves, &c.
j Dissimilar ; brainy heart, livex,
(_ &c. Subs. 4.
{ Yegetal. Subs. 5.
Sensible. Subs. 6, 7, 8.
Rational. Subs. 9, 10, 11.
Its definition, name, difference, Sitb. J.
The part and parties affected, affection, &c. Subs. 2.
The matter of melancholy, natural, unnatural, &c. Subs. 4.
f Of the head alone, Hy- / with their s
{Ut the head alone, ±iy- / with their se
pochondriacal.or windy J ral causes, s;
melancholy. Of the \ ptomes,progi
whole body. y ticks, cures.
s Love-melancholy, the subject of the third
Its Gauses in general. Sect. 2. A.
Its Symptomes or signs. Sect. 3, B.
Its Prognosticks or indications. Sect. 4. 4.
Its cures ; the subject of the second Partitioi
A.
Sect. 2.
Causes of
Melancholy
are either
Outward,
or adven-
titious,
S which are
SYNOPSIS OF THE FIRST PARTITION.
r i As from God immediately, or by second causes. Sub. I .
( Superna- J -Or from the devil immediately, with a digression of
' - 1 | the nature of spirits and devils. Sub. 2.
A Or mediately, by magicians, witches. Sub. 3.
f Primary, as stars, proved by aphorisms, signs from
physiognomy, metoposcopy, chiromancy. Sub. 4.
ACongenite, r Old age, temperament. Sub. 5.
( J Parents, it being an hereditary
t disease. Sub. 6.
/^Necessary, see b •
Nurses. Sub. 1.
Education,
Sub. 2.
Terrors, af¬
frights. Sub. 3.
Scoffs, calum-
^ | pies, bitter
=5 jests. Sub. 4.
Evident, / 3 ) Loss of liberty,
outward, V servitude, lm-
remote, ad- j a pnsonment,
ventitious, 1 5- ,
1 ® 1 Poverty and
want. Sub. 6.
An heap of
Other acci¬
dents, death of
friends, loss,
- -&c. Sub. 7.
In which the body
works on the mind,
and this malady is
. caused by prece-
Contingent, dent diseases, as
inward, an- agues, pox, &c. or
tecedent, J temperature innate,
nearest.; \ Sub. 1.
Or by particular
parts distempered,
as brain, heart,
spleen, liver, mesen¬
tery, pylorus, sto-
. mach, &c. Sub. 2.
V
■ from distemperature
Of- head Me- 'j
lancholy are, ^
Sub. 3. '
Particular
causes
Sect. 2.
Memb. 5.
{^Particularly to the three species. See H
Cf Innate humour, c
I adust.
J A hot brain, corrupted blood in the brain.
Inward A Excess of venery, or defect.
I Agues or some precedent disease.
Fumes arising from the stomach, &c.
Or y- Heat of the sun immoderate.
I A blow on the head.
I Overmuch use of hot wines, spices, gar-
J lick, onions, hot baths, overmuch waking.
Outward A &c.
j Idleness, solitariness, or overmuch study,
I vehement labour, &c.
. . Passions, perturbations. Sec.
/ Of hvpochon- C Inward f Default of spleen, belly, bowels, stomach,
' driacal, or < Or J mesentery, meseraick veins, liver, &c.
windy melan- J j Months of hemorrhoids stopt, or any other
choly are, v. Outward \ ordinary evacuation.
( Those six non-natural things abused.
„ ,, _ C Inward K Laver distempered, stopt, over hot, apt to
hdare ) Or i ingender melancholy, temperature innate.
5°, ^ r- ’ 1 | Bad diet, suppressing of hemorrhoids, &c.
Outward •< and such evacuations, passions, cares, &c.
A those six non-natural things abused.
Sub. 5.
Necessary
causes, as
those six
non-natural
things,
which are.
Sect. 2.
Memb. 5.
SYNOPSIS OF THE FIRST PARTITION. '119
( Bread ; coarse and black, &c.
I Brink ; thick, thin, sowre, &c.
Water unclean, milk, oyl, vinegar, wine, spices.
{Parts ; heads, feet, entrails, fat, bacon,
blood, &c.
f Bief, pork, venison, hares.
Kinds goats, pigeons, peacocks,
(. fen-fowl, &c.
r Of fish; all shell-fish, hard and slimy
, j . V fish, &c.
Fish S> ' Of herbs ; pulse, cabbage, mellons,
" ’ \ garlick, onions, &e.
i All roots, raw fruits, hard and windy
V meats.
/'Diet of¬
fending in
Sub. 3.
V
Quali- f Preparing, dressing, sharp sauces, salt meats,
ty, as < indurate, sowced, fryed, broiled, or made-
in’ L dishes, &c. .
, Quan¬
tity
f Disorder in eating, immoderate eating. Or at
unseasonable times, &c. Subsec. 2.
(. Custom ; delight, appetite, altered, &c. Subs. 3.
Retention and I Costiveness, hot baths, sweating, issues stop-
evacuation, -s ped, Venus in excess, or in defect, phlebo-
Subs. 4. tomy, purging, &c.
Air; hot, cold, tempestuous, dark, thick, foggy, moorish, &c. Subs . 5.
Exercise, 5 Unseasonable, excessive, or defective, of body orminde.
Sub- 6, i solitariness, idleness, a life, out of action, &c.
Sleep and waking, unseasonable, inordinate, over much, over little, &c.
MembS.Sect. 2.
Passions and
perturbations
of the mind.
Subs. 2. With j or
a digression of «#
imagination, j concu-
Sub. 2. and divi- j pisci-
sion of passions j ble.
Unto Sub. 3, |
' Sorrow,cause and symptome, Sub A. Fear,
cause and symptome. Sub. 5. Shame, re-
j pulse, disgrace, &c. Sub. 6. Envy and
malice. Sub. 7. Emulation, hatred, fac¬
tion, desire of revenge. Sub. 8. Anger
miseries. Sub. 10.
Vehement desires, ambition. Sub. 11. Co¬
vetousness, cjjiXajjyuprav, Sub. 12. Love
of pleasure, gamingin excess, &c. Sub.
13. Desire of praise, pride, vain-glory,
&c. Sub. 14. Love of learning, study in
excess, with a digression of the misery
of scholars, and why the Muses are me¬
lancholy, Sub, 15.
120
SYNOPSIS OF THE FIRST PARTITION;
^JBodv, as ill digestion, crudity wind, dry brains, hard belly,
thick blood, mncbwak-iug.heavniess and palpitation of heart,
leaping in many places,’ &c. Sub. 1.
("Com
Symptomes
of melan-
{Fear
IS
th,
Fear and sorrow without a .just cause, sus¬
picion, jealousie, discontent, solitariness,
irksomeness, continual cogitations,rest!ess
thoughts, vain imaginations, &c. Subs. 2.
VP
( Celestial influences, as T? If. £ , &c. parts
of the body, heart, brain, liver, spleen,
stomach, &c.
! Sanguine are merry still laugh¬
ing, pleasant, meditating dn
playes, women, musick, &c.
Phlegmatick, slothful, dull,
heavy, &c.
Cholerick, furious, impatient,
subject to hear and see
strange apparations, &c.
Black, solitary, sad ; they think
they are bewitcht, dead.
Or mixt'of these four humours adust, or not
adust, infinitely varied. , '
Particular
to private
persons,
according
to Sub. 3.
Their several
customs, con¬
ditions, disci¬
pline, &c.
f Ambitious thinks himself
a king, a lord ; covet¬
ous runs' on his money ;
lascivious on his mis-
tris ; religious hath re¬
velations, visions,1 is a
prophet, or troubled in
mind ; a scholar on his
book, &c.
Pleasant at first, hardly
discerned ; afterwards
harsh and intolerable, if
inveterate.
1. Falsa cogita-
tio.
2. Cogitata lo-
quL
3. Exsequi lo-
quutum.
By- fits, or eontinuate, as
the object varies, pleas-
. ing or disxflehsing.
\appetiius, &c. so the symptomes a
SYNOPSIS OF THE FIRST PARTITION.
121
( Head-
meian- .
choly.
Sub. 1-
Particular
symptoroes ,
to the three
{ Head-ach, binding, heaviness, vertigo, light-
\ ness, singing of the ears, much waking,
< fixed eyes, high colonr,red eyes,hard belly,
j dry body ; no great signof melancholy in
V the other parts.
C Continual fear, sorrow, suspicion, discontent,
\ superfluous cares, solicitude, anxiety, per-
\ petual cogitation of such toyes they a:
sessed with, thoughts like dreams, &c.
/ Wind, rumbling in the guts, bellv-ake, heat
Hypo- ] V in the bowels, convulsions, crudities, short
chondria- In body J wind, sb-svr and sharp belchings,cold sweat,
pain in the left side, suffocation, palpita-
J tion, heaviness of the heart, singing in the
V ears, much spittle, and moist, &c.
( Fearful, sad, suspicious, discontent,anxiety,
4 &c. Lascivious by reason of much wind,
(. troublesome dreams, affected, by fits, &c.
{Black, most part lean, broad veins, gross, -
thick blood, their hemorrhoids commonly
stopped, &c.
r Fearful, sad. Solitary, hate light, averse from
| company, fearful dreams, 8tc.
, maids, and widows melancholy, in body and
Sin body
Or
In mind
{Why they are so fearful, sad, suspicious without a cause,
why solitary, why melancholy men are witty, why they
suppose they hear and see strange voices, visions, appa-
Why they prophesie, and speak strange languages ; whence
comes their crudity, rumbling, convulsions, cold sweat,
heaviness of heart, palpitation, cardiaca, fearful dreams,
prodigious phantasies.
Prognostieks
of melan¬
choly.
Sect. 4.
{Pdorphew, scabs, itch, breaking out, &c.
Black jaundise.
If the hemorrhoids voluntarily open.
If varices appear.
^- Leanness, dryness, hollow-eyed, &c.
j Inveterate melancholy is incurable.
J If cold it degenerates often into epilepsie, apo-
j plexy, dotage, or into blindness.
I If hot, into madness, despair, and violent
V. death.
Corollaries and
questions.
f The grievousness of this above all other diseases.
1 The diseases of the mind are more grievous than
I 'those of the body.
/ Whether it be lawful, in this case of melan-
\ cholv, fpr a man to offer violence to himself.
Neg. - ;
How a melancholy or mad man, offering violence
s to'himself is to be censured.
THE
FIRST PARTITION®
r SECTION.
THE FIRST 4 MEMBER.
I SUBSECTION.
Man’s Excellency , Fall, Miseries , Infirmities ; The causes of
them.
Man’s Excellency. ] Man , the most excellent and noble
creature of the world, the principal and mighty work of God,
wonder of nature, as Zoroaster calls him; audacis natures mira-
culum, the a marvail ofmarvails, as Plato ; the b abridgement and
epitome of theworld, as Pliny ; microcosmus, a little world, a mo¬
del of the world, c soveragn lord of the earth, viceroy of the
world, sole commander and governour of all the creatures
in it ; to whose empire they are subject in particular, and
yield obedience ; far surpassing all the rest, not in body only,
but in soul ; Hmaginis imago, e created to Gods own f image
to that immortal and incorporeal substance, with all the facul¬
ties and powers belonging unto it ; was at first pure, divine,
perfect, happy, s created after Godin true holiness andrighte-
ousness; Deo congruens, free from all manner of infirmities,
and put in Paradise, to know God, to praise and glorifie him,
to do his will,
lit dis consimiles partuviat deos,
(as an old poet saith) to propagate the church.
Man’s fall and misery .] But this most noble creature,
Seu tristis, et lacrymosa commutatio l (h one exclaims)
0 pitiful change ! is fallen from that he was, and for-
a Magnum miraculam. b Mundi epitome, naturae deliciae. c Finis re-
ttmi omnium, eui sublimaria serviunt. Sealig. exercit. 365. sec. 3. Vales, the sacr.
IJnl. c.5. ; dUt in numtsmate Csesaris imago, sic in hotnine Dei. _ eOen. I.
Itaago mundi in corpore, Dei in anima. Exemplumque Dei quisqne est in imagine
PSrva. e Eph, 4. 24. h Palanterius.
2
Diseases in General. [Part 1. Sec. L
feited his estate, become miserabilis homuncio, a castaway, a
caitiff, one of the most miserable creatures of the world, if he be
considered in his own nature, an unregenerate man, and so much
obscured by his fall, that (some fewreliques excepted) he isin-
feriour to a beast : a man in honour that under standeth not, is
like unto beasts that perish ; so David esteems him : a monster
by stupend metamorphosis, b a fox, a dog, a hog ; what not?
Quantum mutatus ab illo ! How much altered from that he
was ; before blessed and happy, now miserable and accursed ;
. c he must eat his meat in sorrow, subject to death and all manner
of infirmities, all kinds of calamities.
A description of melancholy .] Great travel is created
for all men, and an heavy yoke on the sons of Adam, from
the day that they go out of their mothers womb, unto that
day they return to the mother of all things ; namely , their
thoughts, and fear of their hearts, and their imagination
of things they wait for, and the day of death. From him
that sitteth in the glorious throne, to him that sitteth be¬
neath in the earth and ashes— from him that is cloathed in
blue silk, and weareth a crown, to him that is cloathed in
simple linneri — -wrath, envy, trouble and unquietness, and
fear of death, and rigour and strife, and such things , come
to both man and beast, but sevenfold to the ungodly A. All
this befalls him in this life, and perad venture eternal misery
in the life to come. . '
Impulsive causes of mans misery and infirmities .] The
impulsive cause of these miseries in man, this privation or
destruction of Gods image, the cause of death and diseases,
of all temporal and eternal punishments, was the sin of our
first parent Adam, ein eating of the forbidden fruit, by the
devils instigation and allurement — his disobedience, pride, am¬
bition, intemperance, incredulity, curiosity ; from whence pro¬
ceeded original sin, and that general corruption of mankind—
as from a fountain flowed all bad inclinations, and actual trans¬
gressions, which cause our several calamities, inflicted upon us
for our sins. And this belike, is that which our fabulous poets
have shadowed unto us in the tale of f Pandoras box, which, be-
ingopened throughher curiosity, filled the world full of allman¬
ner of diseases. It is not curiosity alone, but those other cry¬
ing sins of ours, which pull these several plagues and miseries
upon our heads. For ubipeccatum, ibi procella, as s Chry¬
sostom well observes. h Fools, by reason of their transgres -
~ 3 Ps. 49. 20. bLaseivia superat equnm, impudentia canem, astu vulpem,
furore leonem. Cbrys. 23. Gen. c Gen. 3. 17. dEecIus. 40. 1, % 3, 4, 5, 8.
e Gen. 3. 16. f Ilia cadens tegmen manibus decussit, et una Perniciem im-
nsisit miseris mortalibus atram. Hesiod. 1 . ©per. ..... sHom. 5, ad pop. Antioch-
bPsal. 107.17. ' -
Memb. 1. Subs. 1.] Diseases in General.
3
sion, and because of their iniquities are afflicted. a Fear
cometh like sudden desolation, and destruction like a whirle-
winde , affliction and anguish, because they did not fear God.
Are you shaken with wars?-'0 (as Cyprian well urg-eth to
Demetrius,) are you molested with dearth and famine ? is your
health crusheth with raging diseases ? Is mankind gene¬
rally tormented with epidemical maladies ? ’tis all for your
sins, Hag1. 1. 9, 10. Amos 1. Jer. 7* God is angry, punisheth,
and threateneth, because of their obstinacy and stubbornness,
they will not turn unto him. cIf the earth be barren then for
want of rain; if, dry and squalid, it yield no fruit ; if 'your
fountains be dried up, your wine corn, and oyle blasted; if the
air be corrupted, and men troubled with diseases, ’tis by reason
of their sins, which (like the blood of Abel) cry aloud to heaven
for vengeance, Lam. 5. lo. That we have sinned, therefore
our hearts are heavy, Isa. 59. 11, 12. We roar like bears,
and mourn like doves, and want health, Sf c.for our sins and
trespasses. But this we cannot endure to hear, or to take
notice of. Jer. 2. SO. We are smitten in vain, and receive
no correction ; and cap. 5. 3. Thou hast stricken them ;
but they have not sorrowed; they have refused to receive cor¬
rection ; they have not returned. Pestilence he hath sent; but
they have not turned to him, Amos. 4. d Herod could not abide
John Baptist, nor e Domitian endure Apollonius to tell the
causes of the plague atEphesus, his injustice, incest, adultery,
and the like. _
To punish therefore this blindness and obstinacy of ours, as
a concomitant cause and principal agent, is Gods just judge¬
ment, in bringing these calamities upon us, to chastise us, (I
say) for our sms, and to satisfie Gods wrath : for the law
requires obedience or punishment, as you may read at large,
Deut. £8. 15. If they will not obey the Lord, and keep his
commandments and of dinances, then all these curses shall come
upon them. f Cursed in the town, and in the field, §-c.
g Cursed in the fruit of the body, gc. h The Lord shall send
thee trouble and shame, because of thy wickedness. And a
little after, 1 The Lord shall smite thee with the botch of
AEgypt, and with emrods, and scab , and itch ; and thou canst
not be healed ; k with madness, blindness , and astonishing
a Prov. 1. 27. b Quod autem crebrius bella concutiant, quod sterilitas et
fames solicitudinem cumulent, quod saevientibus morbis valetudo frangitur, quod
humanum genus luis populatione vastatur ; ob peccatum omnia. Cypr. « Si raro
desuperpluvia descendat, si terra situ pulveris squaleat, si vix jejunas et pallidas lierbas
sterilis gleba producat, si turbo vineam debilitet, &c. Cypr. d Mat. 14. 3.
e Philostratus, lib. 8. vife Apollonii. i Injustitiam ejus, et sceleratas nuptias, et caetera
qu* praeter rationem fecerat, morborum caussas dixit. f 16. rf8 b 20.
’Vers. 17. k 28. Deus, quos diligit, castigat.
4
Diseases in General. [Part. 1. Sec. 1.
of heart. This Paul seconds, Rom. 2.9. Tribulation and
anguish on the soul of every man that doth evil. Or else these
chastisements are inflicted upon us for our humiliation, to
exercise and try our patience here in this life, to bring- us
home, to make us know God and our selves, to inform and
teach us wisdom. a Therefore is my people gone into captivity,
because they had no knowledge ; therefore is the wrath of the
Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched out his
hand upon them. He is desirous of our salvation, b nostros
salutis avidus, saith Lemnius, and for that cause pulls us by the
ear many times, to put us in mind of our duties, that they
which erred might have c understanding, (as Isay speaks,
29. 24.) and so to be reformed. I am afflicted and at the point
of death, so David confesseth of himself, Psal. 88. 15. v. 9.
Mine eyes are sorrowful through mine affliction : and that
made him turn unto God. Great Alexander, in the midst of
all his prosperity, by a company of parasites deified, and now
made a god, when he saw one of his wounds bleed, remem¬
bered that he was but a man, and remitted of his pride. In
morbo recolligit se animus, as d Pliny well perceived : in
sickness the mind reflects upon it self, with judgement sur¬
vey s it self and abhors its former courses ; insomuch that he
concludes to his friend Maximus, e that it were the period of
all philosophy, if we could so continue, sound , or perform but
a part of that which we promised to do, being sick. Who so
is wise then, will consider these things, as David did, (Psal.
144. verse last) and, whatsoever fortune befall him, make use
of it— if he be in sorrow, need, sickness, or any other ad¬
versity, seriously to recount with himself, why this or that
malady, misery, this or that in curable disease, is inflicted upon
him ; it may be for his good ; f sic expedit, as Peter said of
his- daughters ague. Bodily sickness is for his souls health ;
periiset nisi periiset ; had he not been visited, he had utterly
perished ; for £ the Lord correcteth him whom he loveth, even as
a father doth his child in whom he delighteth. If he be safe/
and sound on the other side, and free from all manner of in¬
firmity*; h etcui
Gratia, forma, valetudo contingat abunde,
Et mundus victus, non deficient^ crumenlt—
Visa. 5. 13. vers. 15. . b Nostrse salutis avidns, conttnenter aures vellieat,
ae calamitate subiade nos exercet. Levinas Lemn. 1. 2. c. 29. 3e . occult nat.
mir. c Vexatio dat intellectam, Esay 2-8- 19. d-Lib. 7. Cum. judicio,
mores et facta recognoscit, et se intuetur — Dum fero langaorem, fero rSligionis
ataorem : Ekpers langaoris, nos sum meinor bujns axaoris. e Summam esse
tot; us philosophise^ ut tales esse -sani persevereinus, quales nos. futures esse infimn
profitemar. f Petrarch. s Prov.,3. 12. 5 Her. Bpist. lib. 1. 4: -
Memb. I. Subs. l.J Diseases in General.
5
And that he have grace, beauty, favour, health,
A cleanly diet, and abound in wealth —
yet, in the midst of his prosperity, let him remember that
caveat of Moses, a beware that he do not forget the Lord
his God; that he be not puffed up, but acknowledge them
to be his good gifts and benefits, and b the more he hath , to
be more thankful , (as Agapetianus adviseth) and use them
aright.
Instrumental causes of our infirmities^ Now the instru¬
mental causes of these our infirmities are as diverse, as the
infirmities themselves. Stars, heavens, elements, &c. and
all those creatures which God hath made, are armed against
sinners. They were indeed once good in themselves ; and
that they are now, many of them, pernicious unto us, is
not in their nature, but our corruption which hath caused
it. For, from the fall of our first parent Adam, they have
been changed, the earth accursed, the influence of stars
altered ; the four elements, beasts, birds, plants, are now
ready to offend Us. The principal things for the use of man
are water, fire, iron, salt, meal, wheat, hong, milk, oile , wine,
clothing , good to the godly, to the sinners turned to evil ,
Ecclus. 39. 26. Fire and hail, and famine, and dearth, all
these are crea ted for vengeance, Ecclus. 39, 29. The heavens
threaten us with their comets, stars, planets, with their
great conjunctions, eclipses, oppositions, quartiles, and such
unfriendly aspects ; the air with his meteors, thunder and
lightning, intemperate heat and cold, mighty winds, tempests,
unseasonable weather ; from which proceed dearth, famine,
plague, and all sorts of epidemical diseases, consuming
infinite myriads of men. At Cayro in dEgypt, every third
year, (as it is related by G Boterus, and others) 300000 dye of
the plague ; and 200000 in Constantinople, every fifth or
seventh at the utmost. IIow doth the earth terrific and Oppress
us with terrible earthquakes, which are most frequent in
d China, Japan, and those eastern climes, swallowing up some¬
times six cities at once ! How doth the water rage with his
inundations, irruptions, flinging down towns, cities, villages,
bridges, &e. besides shipwraeks ; whole islands are sometimes
suddenly over- whelmed with all their inhabitants, as in
e Zeland, Holland, and many parts of the continent drowned,
as the 1 lake Erne in Ireland ! § Nihilque prater arcium ca-
' a Deut. 8. 11. Qui stat, videat ne cadat. b Quanto majoribus beneficiis a
Deo cumulatnr, tanto obligationem se debitorem fateri, c Boterus de Inst.
Urbium. d Lege hist, relationem Lod. Frois de rebus Japonicis ad annum
15m e Guicciard. descript. Belg, an. 1421. f Giraldos Cambrens.
’ Janus Dousa, ep. life. I. car. K>.
6
Diseases in General. [Parti. Sec. 1.
davera patenti cernimus freto. In the Fenns of Freesland,
1230, by reason of tempests, a the sea drowned multa hominum
millia, etjumenta sine numero , all the country almost, men and
cattle in it. How doth the fire rage, that merciless element,
consuming in an instant whole cities ! What town of any an¬
tiquity or note, hath not been once, again and again, by the
fury of this merciless element, defaced, ruinated, and left
desolate ? In a word,
b Ignis pepercit? unda mergit; aeris
Vis pestilentis sequori ereptum necat ;
Bello superstes, tabidus morbo peril.
Whom fire spares, sea doth drown ; whom sea,
Pestilent ayre doth send to clay ;
Whom war scapes, sickness takes away.
To descend to more particulars, how many creatures are at
deadly feud with men! Lions, wolves, bears, &c. some
with hoofs, horns, tusks, teeth, nails : how many noxious
serpents and venemous creatures, ready to offend us with
sting, breath, sight, or quite kill us ! How many pernicious
fishes, plants, gums, fruits, seeds, flowers, &c. could 1 reckon
up on a sudden, which by their very smell, many of them,
touch, taste, cause some grievous malady, if not death it self!
Some make mention of a thousand several poysons : but these
are but trifles in respect. cThe greatest enemy to man is
man, who, by the devils instigation, is still ready to do mis¬
chief — his own executioner, a wolf, a devil to himself and
others. We are all brethren in Christ, or at least should be —
members of one body, servants of one Lord ; and yet no fiend
can so torment, insult over, tyrannize, vex, as one man doth
another. Let me not fall, therefore, (saith David, when wars,
plague, famine, were offered) into the hands of men, merciless
and wicked men :
d - — Vix sunt homines hoc nomine digni ;
Quamque lupi, ssevae plus feritatis habent.
We can, most part, foresee these epidemical diseases, and
likely,avoid them. Dearths, tempests, plagues, our astrologers
foretell us : earth-quakes,inundations,ruines of houses, consum¬
ing fires, come by little and little, or make some noise before¬
hand ; but the knaveries, impostures, injuries, and villanies of
men no art can avoid. We can keep our professed enemies
from our cities, by gates, walls and towers, defend our selves
aMunster. 1. 3. Cos. cap. 462.
lupus ; homo homini daemon.
b Buchanan. Baptist. cHomo hominf
- d Ovid, de Trist 1. 5. Eleg. 7.
7
Memb. 1. Subs. 1.] Diseases in General.
from thieves and robbers by watchfulness and weapons : but
this malice of men, and their pernicious endeavours, no caution
can divert, no vigil an cy foresee, we have so many secret plots
and devices to mischief one another ; sometimes by the de vils
help, as magicians, a witches; sometimes by impostures, mix¬
tures, poysons, stratagems, single combats, wars, (we hack and
hew, as if we were ad internecionem nati, likeCadmus souldiers
born to consumeoneanother ’tis an ordinary thing to read of
an hundred and two hundred thousand men slain in a battle)
besides all manner of tortures, brasen bulls, racks, wheels,
strappadoes, guns, engines, &c. hAd unum corpus humanum
supplicia plura, quam membra .* we have invented more tor¬
turing instruments than there be several members in a mans
body, as Cyprian well observes. To come nearer yet, our own
parents, by their offences, indiscretion, and intemperance, are
our mortal enemies. c The fathers have eaten sowr grapes ;
and the childrens teeth are set on edge. They cause our grief
many times, and put upon us hereditary diseases, inevitable
infirmities : they torment us ; and we are ready to injure our
posterity,
— — — d mox daturi progeniem vitiosiorem ;
and the latter end of the world, as e Paul foretold, is still like
to be worst. We are thus bad by nature, bad by kind, but
far worse by art, every man the greatest enemy unto himself.
We study many times to undo our selves, abusing those good
gifts which God hath bestowed upon us, health, wealth,
strength, wit, learning, art, memory, to our own destruc¬
tion : f Per ditto tua ex te. As s Judas Maccabeeus killed Apol¬
lonius with his own weapons, we arm ourselves to our own
overthrows : and use reason, art, judgement, all that should
help us, as so many instruments to undo us. Hector gave
Ajax a sword, which, so long as he fought against enemies,
served for his help and defence ; but after he began to hurt
harmless creatures with it, turned to his own hurtless bowels.
Those excellent means, God hath bestowed on us, well im-
ployed, cannot but much avail us r but, if otherwise perverted,
-they ruine and confound us ; and so, by reason of our indis¬
cretion and weakness, they commonly do : we have too many
instances. This S. Austin acknowledged of himself in his
humble Confessions ; promptness of wit , memory, eloquence ,
they were Gods good gifts ; hut he did not use them to
his glory. If you will particularly know how, and by
aMiscent aconita novercse. ' bLib. 2. Epist. 2. ad Donatum. c Ezech.
18. 2 <*Hor, 1. 3. 0(1. 6. ^ e2Tim. 3. 2. f Ezech. 18. 31.
S-lMa.cc. 3. 12.
VOL. 1
K
s
Diseases in General. [Part 1. Sec. 1.
what means, consult physicians ; and they will tell yon, that it
is in offending some of those six non-natural things, of which.
I shall after " dilate more at large ; they are the causes of our
infirmities, our surfeiting, and drunkenness,qur immoderate in¬
satiable lust, and prodigious riot. Plures crapula,quam yladius,
is a true saying — the board consumes more than the sword. Our
intemperance it is, that pulls so many several incurable diseases
'upon our heads, b that hastens old age, perverts our tempera¬
ture, and brings upon us sudden death. And, last of all, that
which crucifies us most, is our own folly, madness,(5Moi Jupiter
perdit , dementat ; by substruction of his assisting grace, God
permits it) weakness, want of government, our facility, arid
proneness in yielding to several lusts, in giving way to every
passion and perturbation of the mind ; by which means we me-;
tamorphose our selves, and degenerate into beasts ; all which
that prince of c poets observed of Agememnon, that, when he
was well pleased., anff Could moderate his passion, he .was—- os
oculosque Jovi Jupiter in feature, Mars in valour,
Pallas in wisdom, another God ; but, when he became angry,
he was a lyon, a tiger, a dog, &c. there appeared no sign or like¬
ness of Jupiter in him : so we, aslong as we are ruled by reason,
correct our inordinate appetite, and conform our selves to
Gods. word, are so many living saints ; but, if we give reins
to lust, anger, ambition, pride, and follow pur own wayes, wp
degenerate into beasts, transform our selves,, overthrow our
constitutions, d provoke God to anger, and heap upon us this
of melancholy, and all kinds of Incurable diseases, as a just
and deserved ‘punishment of our sins.
SUBSECT. XI.
( DEFINITION t
THE \ NUMBER > OF DISEASES.
i DIVISION J
w HAT a disease is, almost every physician defines. cFer-
nelius calleth it an affection of the body contrary to nature —
1 Fuchsius and Crato, an hindrance, hurt, or alteration of
any action of the body}or part of it — gTholosanus, a dissolution
of that league which is between body and soul, and a pertur-
a Part 1. Sect. 2. -Memb.-2.- b Nequitiaest/quas te pon-sinit esse setaem.
c Homer. Iliad. d Intemperantia, tuxus, ingluvies, et infinita hujusmodi
flagitia, quae divinas poenas merentur. Crato. e Fern- Path. 1. 1. c. 1. Morbus
est affeetus contra naturam corpori insidens. f Fucns./Instit. 1. 3. Sect. 1. q. 3.
a quo priraum vitiatnr actio. - • ? Dissolutio ibedejisiri cdrpqre, ut' sahita^iest
- coifStnfehaHd:-;- ! -- • ; •- sjO X.-.1 .Tali.1*'
31 em. 1. Subs. 2.] 1 Def. Mum. Div. of Diseases. &
bationofit ; as health the perfection, and makes to the preser¬
vation of it — a Labeo in AgelMus, an ill habit of the body,
opposite to nature , hindering the use of it — others otherwise,
all to this effect.
Number of diseases.'] How many diseases there are, is a
question not yet determined. bPliny reckons up 300, from
the crown of the head to the sole of the foot : elsewhere he
saith, morborum infinita multitudo, their number is infinite.
Howsoever it was in those times, it boots not ; in our dayes,
I am sure the number is much augmented :
— - -c macies, et nova febrium
Terris incubuit coliors :
for, besides many epidemical diseases unheard of,. and altoge¬
ther unknown to Galen and Hippocrates, as scorbutum, small
pox, plica, sweating sickness, morbus Gallicus , fyc. we have
many proper and peculiar almost to every part.
,No man free from some disease or other.] No man
amongst us so sound, of so good a constitution, that hath ndt
some impediment of body or mind. Quisque suos patimur
manes ; we have all our infirmities, first or last, more or less.
There will be, perad venture, in an age, or one of a thousand,
like Zenophilus the musician in d Pliny, that may happily live
105 years without any manner of impediment; a Pollio
Romulus, that can preserve himself e with wine and oyle; a
man as fortunate as Q. Metellus, of whom Valerius so much
brags ; a man as healthful as Otto Herwardus,. a senator of
Ausborrow in Germany, (whom fLeovitius the astrologer
brings in for an example and instance of certainty in his art)
who, because he had the significatours in his geniture fortunate,
and free from the hostile aspects of Saturn and Mars, being a
very old man, & could not remember that ever, he was sick .
h Paracelsus may brag, that he could make a man live 400
years or more, if he might bring him up from his infancy, and
diet him as he list; and some physicians hold, that there is
no certain period of mans life, but it may still, by temperance
and physick, be prolonged. We find in the mean time, by
common experience, that no man can escape, but that of
1 Hesiod is true :
nxe;» /a£v yxp yxict y.xxm, wXem? h Sx^xtrux.
Ns<ro<h’ ctv6pv7r»nriv n P em vvxti,
Avro[Jt,eeroi <potrutri.~— ‘ -
a Lib. 4. cap. 2. Morbus est habitus contra naturam, qui usum ejus, &c.
b Cap. 11. lib. 7. c Horat. d Cap. 50. lib. 7, Centum et quinque yixit annos
sine ullo incomthodo. e Intus mulso, foras dleo. - f Exemplis genitur.
pJKfixis Epbemer. cap. da infirmitat. g Qm, quoad paeritiae ultimam me-
moriam reeprdari potest, non mendnit se asgrotum decnbuisse. ’ hhib. de vita
longa. s Oper. et dies. „
10 Div. of the Diseases of the Head. [Part. 1. Sec. I.
Th* earth's full of maladies, and full the sea.
Which set upon us both by night and day.
Division of diseases .] If you require a more exact division
of these ordinary diseases which are incident to men, I refer
you to physicians : athey will tell you of aculeoad chronicle,
first and secundary, lethales, salutares, errant, fixed, simple,
compound, connexed , or consequent, belonging to parts or the
whole, in habit or in disposition, fyc. My division at this time
(as most befitting my purpose) shall be into those of the
body and mind. For them Of the body, (a brief catalogue of
which Fucbsius hath made, Institut. lib. 3. sect. i. cap. 1 1.)
I refer you to the voluminous tomes of Galen, Aretseus, Rhasis,
Avicenna, Alexander, Paulus, Aetius, Cordonerius, and those
exact neotericks, Savanarola, Cappivaccius, Donatus Alto-
marus, Hercules de Saxonia, Mercurialis, Victorius, Faven-
tinus, Wecker, Piso, &c- that have methodically and elabo¬
rately written of them all. Those of the mind and bead I
will briefly handle, and apart.
. SUBSECT. III.
Division of the Diseases of the Head.
These diseases of the mind, forasmuch as they have their
chief seat and organs in the head, are commonly repeated
amongst the diseases of the head, which are divers, and vary
much according to their site : for in the head, as there be
several parts, so there be divers grievances, which, according
to that division of b Heurnius, (which he takes out of Arcu-
lanus) are inward or outward (to omit all others which per¬
tain to eyes and ears, nostrils,, gums, teeth, mouth, palate,
tongue, wesel, chops, face, &c.) belonging properly to the
brain, as baldness, falling of hair, furfair, lice, &c. c Inward
belonging to the skins next to the brain, called dura and pia
mater, as all head aches, &c. or to the ventricles, caules,
kells, tunicles, creeks, and parts Of it, and their passions, as
caros, vertigo, incubus , apoplexie, falling-sickness. The
diseases of the nerves ; crampes, stupor, convulsion, tremor,
palsie ; or belonging to the excrements of the brain, ca-
tarrhes, sneezing , rheumes, distillations ; or else those that
' ^ See Fernehus, Path. lib. 1. 9, 10, 11, 12. Fuchsias, iustit. 1. 3. sect. 1. c . 7.
Wecker. Svnt. *>Praefat. de naorbis. capitis. In capite ut vari® habitant
partes, ita varise querelse ihi eveniunt. . c Of which read Heumius, Moataltus,
Hildesheim, Quercetan, Jason Pratensis, &c.
II
Membi 1. Subs. 4.] Diseases of the Mind.
pertain to the substance of the brain itself, in which are con¬
ceived, phrensie , Jethargie, melancholy, madness, weak me¬
mory, sopor, or coma vigilia and vigil coma. Out of these
again I will single such as properly belong to th ephantasie, or
imagination, or reason it self, which aLaurentius calls the
diseases of the mind ; and Hildesheim, morhos imagination is,
ant rationis lessee, which are three or four in number, phren¬
sie, madness , melancholy , dotage, and their kinds, as hydro¬
phobia, lycantropia , chorus sancti Viti, morbi dcemoniaci
which I will briefly touch and point at, insisting especially in
this of melancholy, as more eminent than the rest, and that
through all his kinds, causes, symptomes, prognosticks, cures;
as Lonicerus hath done de Apoplexia, and many other of such
particular diseases. Not that X find fault with those which
have written of this subjeetbefore, as Jason Pratensis, Lauren-
tius Montaltps, T. Bright* &c. they have done very well in
their several kinds and methods : yet that which one omits,
another may haply see; that which one contracts, another may
inlarge. To conclude with b Scribanius, that which they had
neglected, or perfunctorily handled, we may more thoroughly
examine ; that which is obscurely delivered in them, may be,
perspicuously dilated and amplified by us, and so made more
familiar and easie for every mans capacity, and the common
good; which is the chief end of my discourse.
^ SUBSECT. IV.,
Dotage , Phrensie , Madness, Hydrophobia, Lycantropia,
Chorus sancti Viti, Extasis.
Delirium, dotage. ] Dotage, fatuity, or folly, is a com¬
mon name to all the following species, as some will have it.
' Laurentius and d Altomarus comprehended madness, melan¬
choly, and the rest, under this name, and call it the supimum
genus of them all. If it be distinguished from them, it is
natural or ingenite , which comes by some defect of the organs,
and over-moist brain, as we see in our common fools; and is
for the most part intended or remitted in particular men, and
thereupon some are wiser than other; or else it is accjuisite, an
appendix or symptome of some other disease, which comes
or goes ; or, if it continue, a sign of melancholy it self.
?- Cap. 2. de melanchol. *> Cap. 2. de Physiologia sagannn. - Quod alii minus,
recte fortasse dixerint, nos examinere. melius dijtidicare, corrigere studeamus.
cCap. 4. de'mel. * Art. med. c. 7.
12
Diseases of the Mind. [Part. 1. Sec. 1.
Phrensie .] Phrenitis (which the Greeks derive from the
word f&ii) is a disease of the mind, with a continual madness
or dotage, which hath an acute fever annexed, or else an in¬
flammation of the brain, or the membranes or kells of it, with
an acute fever, which causeth madness and dotage. It differs
from melancholy and madness, because their dotage is without
an ague: this continual, with waking, or memory decayed,
&c. Melancholy is most part silent, this clamorous ; and many
such like differences are assigned by physicians.
Madness.'] Madness , phrensie , and melancholy, are con¬
founded by Celsus, and many writers (others leave out phrensie,
and make madness and melancholy but one disease ; which
a Jason Pratensis especially labours, and that they differ only
secundum majus or minus, in quantity alone, the one being a
degree to the other,and both proceeding from one cause. They
differ intenso et remisso gradu, saith b Gordon ius, as the hu¬
mour is intended or remitted. Of the same mind is c Aretaeus,
Alexander Tertullianus, Guianerius, Savanrola, Heurnius ;
and Galen himself writes promiscuously of them both, by rea¬
son of their affinity : but most of our neotericks do handle them
apart, whom I will. follow in this treatise. Madness is there¬
fore defined to be a vehement dotage ; or raving without a
fever, far more violent than melancholy, full of anger and cla¬
mour, horrible looks, actions, gestures, troubling the patients
with far greater vehemency both of body and mind, without all
fear and sorrow, with such impetuous force and boldness, that
sometimes three or four men cannot hold them ; differing only
in this from phrensie, that it is without a fever, and their me¬
mory is, most part, better. It hath the same causes as the
other, as choler adust, and blood incensed, brains inflamed, &c.
d Fracastorius adds, a due time and full age to this definition,
to distinguish it from children, and will have it confirmed im-
potency to separate it from such as accidently come and go
again, as hy taking henbane, nightshade, wine, Sfc. Of
this fury there be divers kinds e ecstasie, which is familiar
with some persons, as Cardan saith of himself, he could be in
one when he list; in which the Indian priests deliver their
oracles, and the witches in Lapland (as Olaus Magnus writeth,
1. 3. cap. 18 extasi omnia prcedicere ) answer all questions
a- Plerique medici uno complexu perstringunt hos daos morbos, quod ex eadem
caussa oriantur, quodque magnitudine et modo solum distent, et alter gradus ad al¬
teram existat. Jason Pratens. b Lib. Med. c Pars manias mibi videtur.
dInsanus, est qui *tate debits, et tempore debito, per se, non momentaneam et fu-
gacem, ut vini, solani, hyoscyami, sed confirmatam habet impotentiam bene operandi
circa intellectum. L3. de inteilectione. e Of which read Felix Plater, cap. 8. de
mentis alienatione..
13
Memb. 1. Subs. 4.] Diseases of the Mind.
in an extasis you will ask ; what your friends do, where they
are, how they fare, &e. The Other species of this fury are
enthusiasms, revelations, and visions, so often mentioned by
Gregory and Beda in tlieir works* obsession or possession of
devils, Sibylline prophets, and poetical Furies ; such as come
by eating noxious herbs, tarantulas stinging, &c. which some
reduce to this. The most known are lycaniropia, hydropho¬
bia, chorus sancti Viti.
Lycanthropia-I Lycanthropia, which Avicenna calls cucu-
butJi , others lupinam insaniam, qr wolf-madness, when men
run howling about graves and fields in the night, and will hot
be perswaded but that they are wolves, or some such beasts—
* Aetius and b Paulus call it a kind of melancholy ; but I should
rather refer it to madness, as most do. Some make a doubt of
it, whether there be any such disease. c Donat. , ab Altomari
saith, that he saw two of them in his time : d Wierus tells a
story of such a one at Padua, 1541, that would not believe to
the contrary, but that he was a wolf. He hath another instance
of a Spaniard who thought himself a bear. e Forestus con¬
firms as much by many examples ; one, amongst the rest, of
which fie Was an eye witness, at Alemaer in Holland— a poor
husban dman that still hunted about graves, and kept in church¬
yards, of a pale, black, ugly, and fearful look. Such, belike,
or little better, where king Preetus f daughters, that thought
themselves kine * and {Nebuchadnezzar, in Daniel; as some in¬
terpreters hold, was only troubled with this kind of madness.
This disease perhaps gave occasion to that bold assertion of
gPliny , some men were turned into' wolves in his time, and
from wolves to men again ; and to that fable of Pausanias, of a
man that was ten years a wolf, and afterwards turned to his
former shape : to h Ovids tale of tycai°n{, &c. He that is de¬
sirous to hear of this disease, or more examples, let him read
Austin in his eighteenth book de Civitate Dei, cap. 5 ; Mi-
zaldus, cent. 5-77 ; Sckenkius, lib. 1. Hildesheim, spicil.%
de Mania ; Forestus, lib. 10. de Morbis Cerebri ; Olaus Mag -
nus; Vincentius Bellavicensis, spec. met. -lib. Sl.c. 12 2; Pierius,
Bodihe, Zuihger, Zeilgur, Peucer, Wierus, Sprang er, $*c.
This malady, saith Avicenna, troubleth men most in February,
and is now a dayes frequent in Bohemia and Hungry, accord¬
ing to1 Heurnius. Schernitzius will have it common in Livo¬
nia. They lye hid, mdst part, all day, and go abroad in the
a Lib. 6. cap. 11. b Lib. 3. cap. 16. ' Cap. 9. Art. mod. <U)e
prasstig. Dgemonum. 1.3. cap. 21. e Observat. lib. 10.de morbis cerebri, c. 15.
f Hippocrates, lib. de insania. sLib. 8. cap. 22. Homines interdnm lupos fieri ;
etcoatra. hMet. 1. 1. » Cap. de Man.
14
Diseases of the Mind. [Part, i , Sec. 1;
night, barking, howling, at graves and deserts; a they have
usually hollow eyes, scabbed legs and thighs,, very dry and
pale, b saith Altomarus : he gives a reason there of all the
symptomes, and sets down a brief cure of them.
Hydrophobia is a kind of madness, well known in every
village, which comes by the biting of a mad dog, or scratching
(saith c Aurelianus), touching, or smelling alone sometimes
(as d Sckenkius proves), and is incidentto many other creatures
as well as men ; so called, because the parties affected cannot
endure the sight of water, or any liquor, supposing still they
see a mad dog in it. And (which is more wonderful) though
they be very dry, (as in this malady they are) they will rather
dye than drink. e Coelius Aurelianus, an ancient writer, makes
a doubt whether this hydrophobia be a passion of the body or
the mind. The part affected is the brain : the cause poyson
that comes from the mad dog, which is so hot and dry, that
it consumes all the moisture in the body. f Hildesheim relates
of some that dyed so mad, and being cut up had no water,
scarce blood, or any moisture left in them. To such as are
so affected, the fear of water begins at fourteen dayes after they
are bitten, to some again not till forty or sixty dayes after :
commonly, saith Heurnius, they begin to rave,flye water, and
glasses, to look red, and swell in the face, about twenty dayes
after, (if some remedy be not taken in the mean time), to lye
awake, to be pensive, sad, to see strange visions, to bark and
howl, to fall into a swoun, and oftentimes fits of the falling
sickness. §Some say, little things like whelps will be seen
in their urines. If any of these signs appear, they are past
recovery. Many times these symptomes will not appear till
six or seven moneths after, saith hCodroncbus; and some
times not till seven or eightyears, as Guianerius twelve.as Al-
bertus ; six or eight moneths after, as Galen holds. Baldus the
great lawyer dyed of it : an Augustin frier, and a woman in
Delph, that were 'Forestus patients, were miserably consumed
with it. The common cure in the countrey (for such at least
as dwell near the sea side) is to duck them over head and ears
in seawater; some use charms ; every good wife can prescribe
medicines. But the best cure to be had in such cases, is from
the most approved physicians. They that will read of them,
may consult with Dioscorides, lib. 6. cap. 37. Heurnius, Hil-
deshiem, Capivaccius, Forestus, Sckenkius, and, before all
others, Codronchus an Italian, who hath lately written two
exquisite books of this subject.
a Ulcerata crura ; sitis ipsis adest immodica; pallidi ;-lmgiia sicca. • > Cap. 9.
art. Hydrophobia. c Lib. 3. cap. 9. ^Lib. 7. de Venenis. e Lib. 3. _
cap. 13. de morbis acutis. f Spied. 2. g Sckenkius, 7. lib. de Venenis. .
h lib. de Hydrophobia. rObservat. lib. 10. 25.
15
Mem. 1 . Subs. 4.] Diseases of the Mind.
Chorus sancti Viti.\ Chorus sancti Viti, or S. Vitus dance;
the Iacivious dance, aParaceIsus calk it, because they that are
taken with it, can do nothing hut dance till they be dead, or
cured. It is so called, for that the parties so troubled were
wont to go to S. Vitus for help ; and, after they had danced
there a while, they were bcertainly freed. ’Tis strange to hear
how long they will dance, and in what manner, over stools,
forms, tables; even great-bellied women sometimes (and yet
never hurt their children) will dance so long that they can
stir neither hand nor foot, but seem to be quite dead. One
in red ploaths they cannot abide. Musick, above all things
they love ; and therefore magistrates in Germany will hire
musicians to play to them, and some lusty sturdy companions
to dance with them. This disease hath been very common
in Germany, as appears by those relations of c Sckenkius, and
Paracelsus in his book of Madness, who brags how many se¬
veral persons he hath cured of it. Felix Platerus (de Mentis
Alienat. cap. 3.) reports of a woman in Basil whom he saw,
that danced a whole indneth together. The Arabians call it
a kind of pafyie. Bodine, in his fifth book de Repub. cap. 1.
speaks of this infirmity ? Monavius, in his last epistle to
Scoltizius, and in another to Dudithus, where you may: read
more of it.
The last kind of madness or melancholy is that demoniacal
(if I may so call it) obsession or possession of devils, which
Platerus and others would have to be pras ter natural : stupend
things are said of them, their actions, gestures, contortions ,
fasting, prophesying, speaking languages they were never
taught, &c. many strange stories are related of them, which
because some will notallow, (for Deacon and Darrel have
written large volumes on this subject pro et con.) I voluntarily
omit.
dFuehsius, Institut. lib. 3. sec. 1. cap. 11, Felix Plater,
e Laurentius, add to these another fury that proceeds from
love, and another from study, another divine or religious fury;
but these more properly belong to melancholy ; of all which I
will speak f apart, intending to write a whole book of them.
aLascivam choream. To: 4. de morbis amentinm. Tract. 1. ' ' *>EveMta. ut
pliirimum, rem ipsam comprobante. *<= Lib. I, cap. deManid. a Cop. -3.;
le mentis alienat. eCap. 4. de mel. f PART, 3.
16
Melancholy in Disposition. [Part. 1. Sect. ].
SUBSECT. Y.
Melancholy in Disposition , improperly so called.
Equivocations .
Melancholy, the subject of our present discourse, is
either in disposition or habit. In disposition is that transitory
melancholy which come and goes upon every small occasion of
sorrow, need, sickness, trouble, fear, grief, passion, or pertur¬
bation of the mind, any manner of care, discontent or thought,
which causeth anguish ,dul ness,heaviness andvexation of spirit,
any wayes opposite to pleasure, mirth , j oy , delight, causing
frowardness in us, ora dislike. In which equivocal and impro-
per sense, we call him melancholy, that is dull, sad, sowr, lump¬
ish, ill disposed, solitary, any way moved, or displeased. And
from these melancholy dispositions a no man living is free, no
Stoick, none so wise, noiie so happy, none so patient, so
generous, so godly, so divine, that can vindicate himself; so well
composed, but more or less, sometime or other, he feels the
smart of it. Melancholy, in this sense, is the character of mor¬
tality. b Man , that is born of a womanfs of short continuance,
and full of trouble. Zeno, Cato, Socrates himself. — whom
c iElian so highly commends fof a moderate temper, that
nothing could disturb him ; but going out , and coming in, still
Socrates kept the some serenity of countenance, what misery
soever befell Aim— (if We may believe Plato his disciple) was
much tormented with it. Q. Metellus, in whom d Valerius
gives instance of all happiness, the most fortunate man then
living, born in that most flourishing city of Rome, of noble
parentage, a proper man of person, well qualified, healthful,
rich, honourable, a senator, a consul,happy in his wife, happy
in his children, %-c. yet this man was not void of melancholy ;
he had his share of sorrow. e Polycrates Samius, that flung
his ring into the sea, because he would participate of discon¬
tent with others, and had it miraculously restored to him
again shortly after by a fish taken as he angled, was not free
aDe quo homine securitas? de qno certum gaudinm? Quocunque se convertit, in
terrenis rebus amaritudinem animi inveniet. Aug: in Psal. 8. 5. b Job. 1. 14.
c Omni tempore Socratem eodem vultu Tideri, sive domnm redirep sive domo egre-
deretur. dlab. 7. cap. l. 'Natos in florentissima totius orbis civitate, no-
bilissimis parentibus, corporis Tires habuit, et rarissimas animi dotes, uxorem con-
spicuam, pndicam, felices liberos, consulare decos, sequentes triumphos, &c.
« iElian.
17
Mem. 1. Subs. 5.] Melancholy in Disposition.
from melancholy dispositions. No man can cure himself ; the
very gods had bitter pangs, and frequent passions, as their
own a poets put upon them. In general h as the heaven, so is
our life, sometimes fair, sometimes overcast, tempestuous, and
serene ; as in a rose, flowers and prickles : in the year it self,
a temperate summer sometimes, a hard winter, a drowth, and
then again pleasant showers ; so is our life inter mixt with
joyes, hopes, fears sorrows, calumnies ; -Invicem cedunt dolor
etvoluptas : there is a succession of pleasure and pain.
• - — - — c medio de fonte leporum
Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis floribus angat.
Even in the midst of laughing there is sorrow (as d Solomon
holds) ; even in the midst of all our feasting and jollity, (as
e Austin infers in his Com. on Psal. 4l) there is grief and dis¬
content. Inter delicias, semper aliquid st&vi nos strahgulat :
for apint of honey, thou shalt here likely find a gallon of gaui;
for a dram of pleasure, a pound of pain ; for an inch of mirth,
an ell of moan ; as ivy doth an oak, these miseries encompass
our life ; and ’tis most absurd and ridiculous for any mortal
man to look for a perpetual tenour of happiness in his life. No-
thingso prosperous and pleasant, but it hath 'some bitterness in
it, some complaining, some, grudging; ’tis all ynuv.witiv.gov , a
mixt passion, and, like a chequer table, black and white ; men,
families, cities, have their falls and wanes, now trines, sextiles,
then quartiles and oppositions. W e are not here, as those angels,
celestial powers and bodies, sun and moon, to finish our course
without all offence, with such constancy, to continue for so
many ages; but subject to infirmities, miseries, interrupt, tossed
and tumbled up and down, carried about with every small blast,
often molested and disquieted upon eachslender occasion, sun-
certain, brittle ; and so is all that we trust unto. h And he that
knows not this, and is not armed to endwre it, is not fit to live in
a Homer Iliad. bLipsitis, cent. 3. ep. 45. Ut coelum, sic nos homines sumus :
illnd ex intervallo nubibus obducitur et obscuratur. Inrosario flores spinis intermixti.
Vita similis aeri ; udum modo, sndnm, tempestas, serenitas : ita vices rerum sunt,
premia gaudiis, et sequaces cur®. c Lucretius, 1. 4. 1124. . dProv. 14. 3.
Extremum gaudii luctps occupat. e Natalitia inquit celebrantur ; nuplise hie
sunt ; at ibi quid celebratur, quod non dolet, quod non transit ? f Apuleius,
4. florid. Nihil quidquid homini tam prosperum divinitus datum, quin ei admixtum sit
aliquid difficultatis, ut etiam amplissima quaqua l*titia, subsit quaspiamvel parvaqueri-
monia, conjugatione quadam mellis et tellis. S Caduca nimirum et fragilia, et
puerilibus consentanea crependiis, sunt ista quae vires et opes humanae vocantur : af-
fluunt subito : repente dilabuntur ; nullo in loco, nulla in persona; stabilibus nixa radi-
cibus consistunt ; sed incertissimo flatu fortun®, quos in sublime extulerunt, improviso
recursu destitutosin profundo miseriarumvalle miserabiliter immergunt. Valerius, 1, 6.
c. 9. h Huic seculo parum aptus es ; ant potius omnium nostrorum condi-
tionem ignoras, quibus reciproco quodam nexu, &c- Lorchanus Gallobelgicus, lib. 3.
ad annum 1598.
18 Melancholy in Disposition. [Part. 1. Sec. 1.
this world (as one condoles our time); he knows not the condi¬
tion of it, where , with a reciprocal tye, pleasure and pain are
still united, and, succeed one another in a ring. Exi e mundo;
get thee gone hence, if thou canst not brook it : there is no
way to avoid it, but to arm thyself with patience, with mag¬
nanimity, to a oppose thyself unto it, to suffer affliction as a
g'ood souldier of Christ, as bPaul adviseth, constantly to bear
it. But forasmuch as so few can embrace this good counsel of
his, or use it aright, but rather, as so many bruit beasts, give
way to their passion , voluntarily subject and precipitate them¬
selves into a labyrinth of cares, woes, miseries, and suffer their
souls to be overcome by them, cannot arm themselves with
that patience as tbeyoughfto do, it falleth out oftentimes that
these dispositions become habits, and many affects contemned
(as c Seneca notes) make a disease . Even as one destination,
not yet grown to custome, makes a cough, but continual and
inveterate causeth a consumption of the lungs j so do these"’
our melancholy provocations and, according as the humour
itself is intended or remitted in men, as their temperature of
body or rational soul is better able to make resistance, so are
they more or less affected : for that which is but a flea-biting
to one, causeth unsufferable torment to another; and which'
one by his singular moderation and well composed carriage
"can happily overcome, a second is no whit able to sustain;
but, upon every small occasion of mis-conceived abuse, injury,
grief, disgrace, loss, cross, rumour, &c. (if solitary or idle)
yields so far to passion, that his complexion is altered, bis di¬
gestion hindred, his sleep gone, his spirits obscured, and his
heart heavy, his hypocondries mis-affected ; wind, crudity, on
a sudden overtake him, and he himself Overcome with melon* '
choly. As it is with a man imprisoned for debt, if once in the ;
goal, every creditor will bring hisaction against him, and there >
likely hold him- — if any discontent seise upon a patient, in an >
instant all other perturbations (for qua data porta, rmint) will
set upon him ; and then, like a lame dog or broken-winged
goose, he droops, and pines away, and is brought at last to
that ill habit or malady of melancholy it self: so that as the
philosophers make d eight degrees of heat and cold, we may
make eighty-eight of melancholy, as the parts affected are di¬
versely seised with it, or have been plunged more dr less .
into this infernal gulf, or waded deeper into it. But all these
aHorsnm omnia studia dirigi- debent, at humana fortiter feraiimis. *> 2Tirn-
2. 3. c Epist. 96. 1. 10. Affectus frequentes contemptique morbura facinnt.
Destillatio uaa, nec adhuc ic mo-era adducta, tussim facit: assidiia et violent?,
pbthisim. d Calidtim ad octo : frigidam ad octo. Usa founds non facit
sestatem. ' ‘
>Iem. 2. Subs. 1.] Digression, of Anatomy . 19
melancholy fits, howsoever pleasing at first, for displeasing*,
violent and tyrannizing over those whom they seise on for
the time — yet these fits, I say, or men affected^ are but im¬
properly so called, because they continue not, but come and
go, as by some objects they are moved. This melancholy , of
which we are to treat, is an habit, morbus sonticus, or clironi -
cus, a cronick or conti nuate disease, a settled humour, as
a Aurelianus and h others call it, not errant, but fixed ; and
as it was long increasing, so, now being (pleasant or painful)
grown to an habit, it will hardly be removed,
■" SECT. I.— MEMB. II.
SUBSECT, J.
Digression of Anatomy.
Before I proceed to define the disease of melancholy ,
what it is, or to discourse farther of it, I hold it not imperti¬
nent to make a brief digression of the anatomy of the body
and faculties of the soul, for the better understanding of thap
which is to follow : because many hard words will often oc¬
cur, as myrache, hypoehondries, haemorrhoids, §'C. imagina¬
tion, reason , humours , spirits, vital, natural, animal, neryesT
veins, arteries, chylus, pituita : which of the vulgar will not
so easily be perceived, what they are, how sited, and to what
end they serve. And, beside, it may peradventure give occa¬
sion to some men to examine more accurately, search farther
into this most excell entsubjeet, (and thereupon, with thatroyal
c prophet, to praise God ; for a man is fearfully and wonder¬
fully made, and curiously wrought) that have time and leisure
enough, and are sufficiently informed in ail other worldly,
business, as to make a good bargain, buy and sell, to keep ana
make choice of a fair hauk, hound, horse, &c. but, for such
matters as concern the knowledge of themselves, they are
wholly ignorant and careless ; they know not what this body
and soul are, how combined, of what parts and faculties they
consist, or how* a man differs from a dog. A^nd what can be
more ignominious and filthy (as dMelancthon well inveighs)
than for a man not to know the structure and composition cf
his own body ? especially since the knowledge of it tends so
much to the preservation of his health, and inf ormation of his
manners. To stir them up therefore to this study, to peruse
aLib. 1. c. 6. b'Fnchsius, ]. c. sec- cap. 7. HiJdesheim, fol. 130. cPsal,
39.13. dDe anima. Turpe enim eat hpmini ignorare sui corporis (at ita.
dicam) asdificium, prassertim cum ad valetudinem et mores haee cogijitio. plurimum-
conducat.
20
Division of the Body. [Part. 1. Sec. 1.
those elaborate works of a Galen, Bauhinus, Plater, Vesalius
Falopius, Laurentius, Remelinus, &c. which have written
copiously in Latin— or that which some of our industrious
couritrey-men have done in our mother tongue, not long
since, as that translation of b Columbus, and c Microcosmo-
graphia, in thirteen books — I have made this brief digression.
Also because d Wecker, eMelancthon, fFernelius, sFuchsius,
and those tedious tracts de Anirnd (which have more compen¬
diously handled and written of this matter) are not at all
times ready to be had — to give them some small taste or
notice of the rest, let this epitome suffice.
SXJBSECT. IL
Division of the Body. Humours. Spirits.
Of the parts of the Body there may be many divisions : the
most approved is that of h Laurentius, out of Hippocrates,
which is, into parts contained or containing. Contained are
either humours or spirits.
Humour s,] A humour is a liquid or fiuent part of the body,
comprehended in it, for the preservation of it, and is either
innate or born with us, or adventitious and acquisite. The
radical or innate is daily supplyed by nourishment, which
some call cambium , and make those secondary humours of
ros and gluten to maintain it ; or acquisite, to maintain these
four first primary humours, coming and proceeding from the
first concoction in the liver, by which means chylus is exclud¬
ed. Some divide them into profitable, and excrementitious.
But 1 Crato (out of Hippocrates) will have all four to be juyce,
and not excrements, without which no living creature can be
sustained ; which four, though they be comprehended in the
mass of blood, yet they have their several affections, by which
they are distinguished from one another, and from those ad¬
ventitious, peccant, or k diseased humours, as Melanethon
calls them.
Blood.'] Blood is a hot, sweet, temperate, red humour,
prepared in the mesaraicke veins, and made of the most tem¬
perate parts of the chylus in the liver, whose office is to nou¬
rish the whole body, to give it strength and Colour, being-
dispersed, by the veins, through every part of it. And from it
aDeusapart. . *> History of man. CJ). Crooke. d In Syntaxi«
<De anima flnstit. lib. I. s Physiol. 1. 1^2. h Anat. 1. 1*
c. 18. I In Micro. Snccos, sine qpibns animal snstentari non potest.
bosos hmnores. • . -
21
Meoib. 2. Subs. 2.] Similar Parts.
spirits are first begotten in the heart, which afterwards, by
tbe arteries , are communicated to the other parts.
Pituita, or phlegm, is a cold and moist humour, begotten
of the colder part of tbe chy lus (or white juice coming out of
the meat digested in the stomach) in the liver ; his office is to
nourish and moisten the members of the body, which, as the
tongue, are moved, that they be not over-dry,
Choler is hot and dry, bitter, begotten of the hotter parts
of the chylus, and gathered to the gall : it helps the natural
heat and senses, and serves to the expelling of excrements.
Melancholy. ] Melancholy, cold and dry, thick, black, and
sowr, begotten of the more feculent part of nourishment, and
purged from the spleen, is a bridle to the other two hot hu¬
mours,' blood and choler, preserving them in the blood, and
nourishing the bones. These four humours bavesome ana-
logy with the four elements, and to the four ages in man, ;
Serum, Sweat, Tears. To these humours you may add se¬
rum, which is the matter of urine, and those excrementitious,
humours of the third concoction, sweat and tears.
Spirits.] Spirit is a most subtle vapour, which is express¬
ed from the blood, and the instrument of the soul to perform
all his actions; a common tye or medhm betwixt the body
and the soul, as some will have it ; or (as a Paracelsus) a
fourth soul of it self. Melancthon holds the fountain of these
spirits to be the heart ; begotten there, and afterward con¬
veyed to the brain, they take another nature to them. Of
these spirits there he three kinds, according to the three
principal parts, brain , heart, liver ; natural, vital, animal.
The natural are begotten in the liver, tmd thence dispersed
through the veins, to perform those natural actions^ The
vital spirits are made in the heart of the natural, which by
the arteries, are transported to all the other parts if. these :
spirits cease, then life ceaseth, as in a syncope or swooning*
The animal spirits, formed of the vital, brought up to the
brain, and diffused by the nerves, to the subordinate mem¬
bers, give sense and motion to them all,
SUBSECT. III.
Similar parts.
Similar parts.-] .CONTAINING parts, by reason of their
more solid substance, are either homoyeneal or heterogeneal,
similar, or dissimilar ; (so Aristotle divides them, lib, I.eapA.
de Mist, Animal. Laurentius, cap. 20. lib. 1.) Similar, or ho-
mogeneal, are such as, if they be divided, are still severed into
P aSpiritalis auima.
22
Similar Parts.
[Part. 1. Sec. 1.
parts of the same nature, as water into water. Of these some
be spermatical, som e fleshy, or carnal. a Spermatical are
such as are immediately begotten of the seed, which are
bones, gristles, ligaments, membranes , nerves, arteries , veins,
skins, fibers or strings, fat.
Bones. ] The bones are dry and hard, begotten of the
thickest of the seed, to strengthen and sustain other parts ;
some say there be three hundred and four, some three hundred
and seven, or three hundred thirteen, in mans body. They
have no nerves in them, and are therefore without sense.
A gristle is a substance softer than bone, and harder than
the rest, flexible, and serves to maintain the parts of motion.
Ligaments are they that tye the bones together, and other
parts to the bones, with their subserving tendons. Membranes
office is to cover the rest.
JVerves, or sinews, are membranes without, and full of marrow
within : they proceed from the brain, and carry the animal
spirits for sense and motion. Of these some be harder, some
softer : the softer serve the senses ; and there be seven pair of
them. The first be the optick nerves, by which we see ; the
second move the eyes ; the third pair serve for the tongue to
taste; the fourth pair for the taste in the palat ; the fifth be¬
long to the ears ; the sixth pair is most ample, and runs almost
over all the bowels ; the seventh pair moves the tongue. The
harder sinews serve for the motion of the inner parts, proceed¬
ing from the narrow, in the back, of whom there be thirty
combinations- — seven of the neck, twelve of the breast, &c.
Arteries.] Arteries are long and hollow, with a double skin
to convey the vital spirits; to discern which the better, they say
that Versalius the anatomist was wont to cut up men alive.
bThey arise in the leftside of the heart, and are principally two,
from which the rest are derived, aorta and venosa. Aorta is
the root of all the other, which serves the whole body ; the
other goes to the lungs, to fetch ayr to refrigerate the heart.
Veins.] Veins are hollow and round like pipes; arising from
the liver, carrying blood and natural spirits, they feed all the
Earts. Of these there be two chief, vena porta, and vena cava ,
■om which the rest are eorrivated. That vena porta is a vein
coming from the concave of the liver, and receiving those
mesaraical veins, by whom he takes the chylus from the stomach
and guts, and conveys it to the liver. The other derives
blood from the liver, to nourish all other dispersed members. -
The branches of that vena porta are the mesaraical --and-".
haemorrhoids. The branches of the cava are inward or out -
» LaurentiaSj c. 20. 1. 1. Anat. . - b la these they observe the beating of the
poise. . . ” "
m
Mem. 2. Subs. 4.] Anatomy of the Body.
ward— inward — seminal or emulgent- — outward , in tbe head,
arms, feet, &c. and have several names.
Fibres, Fat, Flesh.] Fibres are strings, white and solid,
dispersed through the whole member, and right, oblique.trans-
verse, all which have their several uses. Fut is a similar
part, moist, without blood, composed of the most thick and
unctuous matter of the blood. The a skin covers the rest*
and hath cuticulani, or a little skin under it. Flesh is soft
and ruddy, composed of the congealing of blood, &e.
SUBSECT. IV.
Dissimilar parts.
DlssiMiLARparis are those which we call organical or instru¬
mental; and they be inward or outward. The chiefesf outward
parts are situate forward or backward. Forward, the crown and
ioretop of the head, skull, face, forehead, temples, chin, eyes,
ears, nose, &e.neck, breast, chest, upper and lower part of the
belly, hypochondries, navel, groyn, flank, See. Backward, the
hinder part of the head, back, shoulders, sides, loy ns,hip^bones,
os sacrum , buttocks, &c. Or joynts, arms, hands, feet, leggs,
thighs, knees, &c„ Or common to both, which, because they
are obvious and well known, I have Carelessly repeated, eaque
preecipua et grandiora tantum: quod reliquum, ex libris de
ariimd, qui volet, accipiat.
Inward organical parts, which cannot be seen, are divers in
number, and have several names, functions, and divisions ; but
that of b Laurentius is most notable, into noble, or ignoble parts.
Of the noble there be three principal parts, to which all the
rest belong, and whom they serve — brain, heart, liver ; accord¬
ing to whose site, three regions, or a threefold division is made
of the whole body ; as, first, of the head, in which the animal
organs are contained, and brain it self, which by his nerves
gives sense and motion to the rest, and is (as it were) a privy
counsellour, and chancellour, to the heart. The second region
is the chest, or middle belly, in which the heart as king' keeps
his court, and by his arteries communicates life to the whole
body. The third region is the lower belly, in which the liver
resides as a legate a latere, with the rest of those natural
organs,serving for concoction, nourishment, expelling of excre-
a Cnjus est pars similaris a- vi cutifica, ut interiora muniat. Capivac. Anat. pag. 252.
b Anat. lib. L c. 19. Celebris est et pervulgata partium divisio in principes et ignobles
partes. .
VOL. I. L
24 Anatomy of the Body. [Part. 1. Sec. 1.
ments. This lower region is distinguished from the upper by the
midriff, or diaphragma, and is subdivided again by asome into
three concavities, or regions, upper, middle, and lower — -the
upper, of the hypocondries,in whose right side is the liver , the
left the spleen(from which is denominated hypochondriacal me¬
lancholy) the second, of the navel and flanks, divided from the
first by the rim — the last, of the water-course, which is again
subdivided into three other parts. The Arabians make two
Imrts of this region,epigastrium, and hypo gastr ium ; upper, or
ower. Epigastrium they call rnirach, from whence comes
mirachialis melancholia , sometimes mentioned of them. Of
these several regions I will treat in brief apart ; and, first, of
the third region, in which the natural organs are contained.
The lower region. Natural Organs.*] But you that are
readers, in the mean time, suppose you were now brought
into some sacred temple, or majestical palace, (as b Melanc-
thon saith) to behold not the matter only, but the singular
art, workmanship, and counsel of this our great Creator.
And ’tis a pleasant and profitable speculation, if it be consi¬
dered aright. The parts of this region, which present them¬
selves to your consideration and view, are such as serve to nu¬
trition or generation. Those of nutrition serve to the first or
second concoction, as the oesophagus or gullet, which brings
meat and drink into the stomach. The ventricle or stomach,
which is seated in the midst of thatpart of the belly beneath the
midriff, the kitchen (as it were) of the first concoction,' and
which turns our meat into chylus . It hath two mouths, one
above, another beneath. The upper is sometimes taken for the
stomach it self: the lower and nether door (as Wecker calls it)
is named pylorus. This stomach is sustained by a large kell or
kaull, called omentum ; which some will have the same with
peritonaeum, or rim of the belly. Frtfm the stomach to the very
fundament, are produced the guts or intestina, which serve a
little to alter and distribute the chylus, and convey away the
excrements. They are divided into small and great, by reason
of their site and substance, slender or thicker the slender is,
duodenum, or whole gut, which is next to the stomach, some
twelve inches long (saith c Fuchsius). Jejunum, or empty gut,
continue to the other, which hath many Jnesaraick veins
annexed to it, which take part of the chyltCs to the liver from
it. . I lion, the third, which consists of many crinkles, which
serves with the rest to receive keep, and distribute the chylus
from the stomach. The thick guts are three, the blind gut,
2 D. Crook, out of Galen and others. b Vos vero veluti in templam ac sa-
craritnn qnoddam vos duci pntetis, &c. S navis et utilis cognitio. _ c Lib. 1.
■ap. 12. sect. 5.
25
Mem. % Subs. 4-] Anatomy of the Body.
colon and right gut. The blind is a thick and short gut j
haring one mouth in which the ilion and colon meet : it receives
the excrements, and conveys them to the colon. This colon
hath many windings, that the excrements pass not away too
fast : the right gut is straight, and conveys the excrements to
the fundament, whose lower part is bound up with certain mus¬
cles, called sphincter es, that the excrements may be the better
contained, until such time a man be willing to go to the stool.
In the midst of these guts is situated the niesenterium or midriff,
composed of many veins, arteries, and much fat, serving chiefly
to sustain the guts. All these parts serve the first concoction,
fo the second, which is busied either in refining the good
nourishment, or expelling the bad, is chiefly belonging the
liver, like in colour to congealed blood, the shop of blood,
situate in the right hypocbndry, in figure like to an half moon ;
generosum membrum , Melanethon stileS it; a generous part;
it serves to turn the chylus to blood, for the nourishment of the
body. The excrements of it are either cholerick or watery,
which the other subordinate parts convey. The gall, placed in
the concave of the liver, extracts choler to it : the spleen,melan-
choly ; which is situate on the left side, over against the Iwer,
a spungy matter that draws this black eAo/er to it by a secret
vertue,; and feeds upon it, conveying the rest to the bottom of
the stomach, to stir up appetite, or else to the guts as an excre¬
ment. That watery matter the two kidneys expurgate by those
emulgent veins, and ureters . The emulgent draw this super¬
fluous moisture from the blood ; the two ureters convey it to
the bladder , which, by reason of his site in the lower belly,
is apt to receive it, having two parts, neck and bottom ; the
bottom holds the water; the neck is coustringed with a muscle,
which, as a porter, keeps the water from running out against
our will.
Members of generation are common to both sexes, or
peculiar to one ; which, because they are impertinent to my
purpose, I do voluntarily omit.
Middle Region.'] Next in order is the middle region, or
chest, which comprehends the vital faculties and parts; which
’ (as I have said) is separated from the lower belly by the dia-
phragma or midriff, w hich is a skin consisting of many nerves,
membranes ; and, amongst other uses it hath, is the instru¬
ment of laughing. There is also a certain thin membrane, full
of sinews, which covereth the whole chest within, and is called
pleura , the seat of the disease called pleurisie, when it is in¬
flamed. Some add a third skin, which is termed mediasiinus ,
which divides the chest into two parts, right and left. Of this
region the principal part is the heart , which is the seat and
26
Anatomy of the Body. [Part. 1. Sec. 1.
fountain of life, of heat, of spirits, of pulse and respiration :
the sun of our body, the king and sole commander of it : the
seat and organ of all passions and affections ; ( primumvivens ,
ultimum moriens : it lives first, and dies last in all creatures) of
a pyramidical form, and not much unliketoapine-apple; aa part
worthy of admiration, that can yield such variety of affections,
by whose motion it is dilated or contracted, to stir and com¬
mand the humours in the body • as, in sorrow, melancholy ; in
anger, choler ; in joy, 'to send the blood outwardly ; in sorrow,
to call it in ; moving the humours, as horses do a chariot.
•This heart, though it be one sole member, yet it maybe divided
into two creeks, right and left. The right is like the moon in¬
creasing, bigger than the other part, and receives blood from
vena cava, distributing some of it to the lungs, to nourish
them, the rest to the left side, to ingender spirits. The left
creek hath the form of a cone, and is the seat of life, which
(as a torch doth Oyl) draws blood unto it, begetting of it spirits
and fire ; and, as fire in a torch, so are spirits in the blood ;
and, by that great artery called aortas it-sends vital spirits over
the body, and takes aire from the lungs, by that artery which
is called venosa ; po that both creeks have their vessels ; the
tight two veins ; the left two arteries, besides those two com¬
mon anfractuous ears, which serve them both ; the one to
•hold blood, the other aire, for several uses. The lungs is a
thin spungy part, like an oxe hoof, (saith b Fernelius) the
town-clark or cryer (c one terms it), the instrument of voice,
as an orator to a king ; annexed to the heart, to express his
.thoughts by v oiee . That it is the instrument of voice is ma¬
nifest, in that no creature can speak or utter any voice,
which wanteth these lights. It is besides, the instrument of
respiration, or breathing ; and its office is to cool the heart,
by sending ayre unto it by the venosal artery , which vein
comes to the lungs by that aspera arteria, which consists of
many gristles, membranes, nerves, taking in ayre at the nose
and mouth, and, by it likewise, exhales the fumes of the heart.
In the upper region serving the animal faculties, the chief
organ is the brain, which is a soft, marrowish, and white sub¬
stance, ingend%ed of the purest part of seed and spirits, in¬
cluded by many skins, and seated withintheskull or brain-pan;
and itis the most noble organ under heaven, the dwellinghouse
and seat of the soul, the habitation of wisdom, memory, judge-
aHsec res est praecipue digna admiratione, qood tanta affectuum varietate cietar
cor, quod omenes res tristes et lsetas statim corda feriupt et movent. b Physio
1. 1. c. 8. c Ut orator regi, sic pulmo, vocis instrumentum, annectitur cordi,
&c. Melancth.
27
Mem. 2. Sub. 5] Anatomy of the Soul.
ment, reason, and in which man is most like unto God : and
therefore nature hath covered it with a skull of hard bone,
and two skins or membranes, whereof the one is called dura
mater, or meninx, the other pia mater. The dura mater is
next to the skull, above the other, which includes and protects
the brain. When this is taken away, the pia mater is to be seen,
a thin membrane, the next and immediate cover of the brain,
and not covering only, but entering into it. The brain it self
is divided into two parts, the fore and hinder part. The fore
part is /much bigger than the other, which is called the little
brain in respect of it. This fore part hath many concavities,
distinguished by certain ventricles,which are the receptacles of
the spiritSjbrought hither by the arteries from the heart,and are-
there refined to a more heavenly nature, to perform the actions-
of the soul. Of these ventricles there be three, right , left ,
and middle. The right and left answer to their site, and beget
animal spirits.; if they be any way hurt, sense and motion
ceaseth. These ventricles, moreover, are held to be the seat of
the common sense. The middle ventricle is a common con¬
course and cavity of them both, and hath two passages; the one
to receive pituita ; and the other extends it self to the fourth
creek : in this place imagination and cogitation : and so
the. three ventricles of the fore, part of the brain are used. The
fourth creek, behind the head, is common to the cerebral or
little brain j and marrow of the back-bone, the least and most
solid of all the rest, which receives the animal spirits from the
other ventricles, and conveys them to the marrow in the back,
and is the place where they say the memory is seated.
SUBSECT. V.
Of the Soul and her Faculties,
ACCORDING to a Aristotle, the soul is defined to be tmXj-
perfectio et actus primus corporis organici, vitam ha-
bentis in protentid — the perfection or first act of an organical
body, haying power of life ; which most ^philosophers approve.
But many doubts arise about the essence, subject, seat, di¬
stinction, and subordinate faculties of it. F or the essence and
particular knowledge, of all other things it is most hard (be it
of man or beast) to discern, as c Aristotle himself, d Tully,
e Picus Mirandula, f Tolet, and other neoteriek philosophers
aDe anim. c. 1. 13 Scaiig. exerc. 307. Tolet. in lib. de anima, cap, 1, &c.
«De anima, cap. I. A Tuscnl. qn®st. « Lib. 6. Beet. Val. Gentil. c. 13.
pag. 1216. f Aristot.
28
Anatomy of the Soul. [Part. 1. Sec. 1.
confess. a We can understand all things hy her ; but, what she
is, we cannot apprehend. Some therefore make one soul , di¬
vided into three principal faculties ; others, three distinct souls;
(which question of late hath been much controverted by Picolo-
mineus, and Zabare!)bParacelsuswill have four souls, addingto
the three granted faculties, a spiritual soul ; (which opinion of ,
his, Campanella, in his book tie cSensu rerum , much labours to
demonstrate and prove, because carkasses bleed at the sight of
the murderer; with many such arguments :) and dsome, again,
one soul of all creatures whatsoever, differing only in organs ;
and that beasts have reason as well as men, though, for some
defect of organ, not in such measure. Others make a doubt,
whether it be all in all, and all in every part ; which is amply
discussed in Zabarel among the rest. The e common division
of the soul is into three principal faculties, vegetal, sensitive,
and rational , which make three distinct kind of living crea¬
tures— vegetal plants, sensible beasts, rational men. How
these three principal faculties are distinguished and connected,
humano ingenio inaccessum videtur, is beyond humane capa¬
city, as f Taurellus, Philip, Flavius, and others, suppose. The
inferrour may be alone; but the superiour cannot subsist
without the other ; so sensible includes vegetal, rational, both
which are contained in it (saith Aristotle) ut trigonus in tetra-
gono, as a triangle in a qudrangle.
Vegetal soul.~] Vegetal, the first of the three distinct facul¬
ties, is defined to be a substantial act of an or ganical body ,
by which it is nourished, augmented, and begets another like
unto it self: in which definition, three several operations are
specified, altrix, auctrix, procreatrix. The first is § nutrition,
whose object is nourishment, meat, drink and the like; his
organ the liver, in sensible creatures ; in plants, the root or
sap. His office is to turn the nutriment into the substance
of the body nourished, which he performs by natural heat.
This nutritive operation bath four other subordinate functions
or powers belonging to it — attraction, retention, digestion , ex¬
pulsion.
Attraction ,] h Attraction is a ministring faculty, which (as
a loadstone doth iron) draws meat into the stomach, or as a ,
lamp doth oyle ; and this attractive power is very necessary
in plants, which suck up moisture by the root, as another
mouth, into the sap, as a like stomach.
a Anima quasque intelligimus ; et tamen, quae sit ipsa, intelligere non valemus.
b Spiritualem_animam a reliquis distinctam tuetur, etiam in cadavere inhasreutem post
mortem per aliquot menses. c Lib. 3. cap. 31. d Coelius, lib. 2.
c. 31. Pintarch. in Grillo.Lips. cen. 1; ep. 50. Jossins de Risu et Fletu, Averroes,
Campanella, &c. e Philip, de Anima, ca. l. Coelius, 20. antiq. cap 3. Plu¬
tarch. de placit. Philos. fDe vit. et. mort. part. 2. c; 3. prop. 1. de vit. etmort.2.
c. 22. S Nutritio est alimenti. transmutatio, viro natiiralis. Seal, exerc.101.
sect. 17. h See more of attraction in Seal, exerc, 343, _
Mem. 2. Subs. 5.] Anatomy of the Soul. 2§
■ Retention .] Retention keeps it, being attracted unto the
stomach, until such time it be concocted; for, if it should
pass away straight, the body could not be nourished.
, Digestion.] Digestion is performed by natural heat ; for,
as the flame of a torch consumes oyle, wax, tallow, so doth it
alter and digest the nutritive matter. Indigestion is opposite
unto it, for want of natural heat. Of this digestion there be
three differences, maturation, elixation , assation.
Maturation.] Maturation is especially observed in the
fruits of trees, which are then said to be ripe, when the seeds
are fit to be sown again. Crudity is opposed to it, which
gluttons, Epicures, and idle persons are most subject unto,
that use no exercise to stir up natural heat, or else choke it,
as too much wood puts out a fire.
Elixation.] Elixation is the seething of meat in the sto¬
mach, by the said natural beat, as meat is boyled in a pot ;
to which corruption or putrefaction is opposite.
Assation.] Assation is a concoction of the inward moisture
by heat ; his opposite is simiustulation .
Order of concoction four-fold?) Besides these three several
operations of digestion , there is a four-fold order of concoction;
mastication , or chewing in the mouth ; chylification of this so
chewed meat in the stomach ; the, third is in the liver, to turn
this chylus into blood, called sanguification ; the last is assi~
mutation, which is in every part.
Expulsion .] Expulsion is a power of nutrition, by which it
expells all superfluous excrements and reliques of meat and
drink, by the guts, bladders, pores ; as by purging, vomiting,
spitting, sweating, urine, hairs, nails, &c.
Augmentation .] As this nutritive faculty serves to nourish
the body, so doth the augmenting faculty (the second operation
or power of the vegetal faculty) to the increasing of it in quan¬
tity, according to all dimensions, long, broad, thick, and to
make it grow till it come to his due proportion and perfect
shape ; which hath his period of augmentation, as of consump¬
tion, and that most certain, as the poet observes :
S tat sua cuique dies ; breve et irreparabiie tempus
Omnibus est vitae— - *
A term of life is set to every man,
Which is but short ; and pass it no one can.
Generation.) The last of these vegetal faculties is gene¬
ration, which begets another by means of seed, like unto it
self, to the perpetual preservation of the species. To this fa¬
culty they ascribe three subordinate operations : the first to
turn nourishment into seed, &c.
30
Anatomy of the Soul . [Part. I. Sec. 1.
Life and death concomitants of the vegetal faculties^] Ne¬
cessary concomitants or affections of this vegetal faculty are
life and his privation, death. To the preservation of life the
natural heat is most requisite, though siccity and humidity,
and those first qualities, be not excluded. This heat is like¬
wise in plants, as appears bv their increasing, fructifying, &e.
though not so easily perceived. In all bodies it must have radi¬
cal a moisture to preserve it, that it be not consumed ; to which
preservation our clime, countrey, temperature, and the good
Or bad use of those six non-natural things, avail much) for,
as this natural heat and moisture decay es, so doth our life it
self : and, if not prevented before by some violent accident, or
interrupted through our own default, is in the end dryed up
by old age, and extinguished by death for want of matter, as
a lamp, for defect of oyl to maintain it.
SUBSECT. VI.
Of the sensible Soul.
IV-EXT in order is the sensible faculty, which is as far beyond
the other in dignity , as abeUst is preferred to a plant, having those
vegetal powers included in it. ’Tis defined an act of an or-
ganical body, by which it lives, hath sense, appetite, judgement,,
breath, and motion. His object, in general, 'is a sensible or pas¬
sible quality because the sense is affected with it. The general
organ is the brain, from which principally the sensible opera¬
tions are derived. The sensible soul is divided into two parts,
apprehending or moving. By the apprehensive power, we per¬
ceive the species of sensible things, present or absent, and re¬
tain them as wax doth the print of a seal. By the moving, the
body is outwardly carried from one place to another, or in¬
wardly moved by spirits and pulse. The apprehensive faculty is
subdivided into two parts, inwar dor mil ward— outward, as the
five senses, of touching, hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting ; to
which you may add Scaligers sixth sense of fitiHatitm, if you
please, or that of speech, whichis the sixth external sense,accord-
ing to Lullius. Inward are three, common sense, phantasie, me¬
mory. Those five outward senses have their object in outward
things only, and such as are present, as the eye sees no colour
except it be at hand, The ear sound. Three of these senses are
of commodity, hearing, sight, and smell; two of necessity, touch
£ Vita consistit in ealido et hinaido.
31
Meinb. 2. Subs. 6.] Anatomy of the Soul.
and taste, without which we cannot live. Besides, the sensi¬
tive power is active ox passive — active, as, in sight, the eye
sees the colour ; passive , when it is hurt by his object, as the
eye by the sun beams, (according to that axiom, visible forte
destruit sensum) or if the object be not pleasing, as a bad
sound to the ear, a stinking smell to the nose, &c.
Sight.'] Of these five senses, sight is held to be most pre¬
cious, and the best, and that by reason of his object ; it sees
the whole body at once; by it we learn, and discern all things —
a sense most excellent for use. To the sight three things are
required ; the object, the organ, and the medium. The object
in general is visible, or that which is to be seen, as colours,
and all shining bodies. The medium is the illumination of
the air, w hich comes from a light, commonly called diapka-
num ; for, in dark, we cannot see. The organ is the eye, and
chiefly the apple of it, which, by those optick nerves concur¬
ring both in one, conveys the sight to the common sense.
Betwixt the organ and the object, a true distance is required,
that it be not too near, or too far off. Many excellent ques¬
tions appertain to this sense, discussed by philosophers ; as,
whether this sight be caused intra mittendo, vel extra mit-
tendo, Sfc. by receiving in the visible species, or sending of
them out; which b Plato, c Plutareh, d Macrobius, c Lactan-
tius, and others, dispute. And besides, it is the subject of
the perspectives, of which Albazen the Arabian, Vitellio,
Roger Bacon, Baptista Porta, Guidus Ubaldus, Aquilonius,
&c. have written whole volumes.
Hearing.] Hearing, a most excellent outward sense, by
which we learn and get knowledge. His objeetis sound. Or that
which is heard ; the medium, ayre ; organ , the ear. To the
sound which is a collision of the air, three things are re¬
quired; a body to strike, as the hand of a musician ; the body
strucken, which must be solid and able to resist ; as a bell,
lute-string ; not wool!, or spunge ; the medium, the air,
which is inward or outward. ; the outward, being struck or
collided by a solid body, still strikes the nextair, until it come
to that inward natural air, which, as an exquisite organ, is
contained inia little skin formed like a drum-head, and, struck
upon hy certain small instruments like drum-sticks, conveys
the sound, by a pair of nerves appropriated to that use, to the
common sense as to a judge of sounds. There is great variety
and much delight in them ; for the knowledge of which con¬
sult with Boethius, and other musicians.
aLumien est actus perspicui. Lumen a luce provenit ; lux est in corpore lueido.
b In Phaedon . c Satur. 7. c. 14. d Lac. cap. 8. de opif. Dei, J .
E De pract Philos. 4.
32
Anatomy of the Soul. [Part. I. Sec. I i
Smelling.'] Smelling is an outward sense, which appre -
bends by the nostrils drawing in air ; and, of all the rest, it is
the weakest sense in men. The organ in the nose, or two
small hollow pieces of flesh a little above it : the medium the
air to men, as water to fish : the object, smell, arising from a
mixt body resolved, which whether it be a quality, fume, va¬
pour, or exhalation, I will not now dispute, or of their differ¬
ences, and how they are caused. This sense is an organ of
health, as sight and hearing (saith aAgeIlius) are of discipline ;
and. that by avoiding bad smells, as by choosing good, which
do as much alter and affect the body many times, as diet it
self. . ,
Taste.] Taste, a necessary sense, which perceives all sa¬
vours by the tongue and palat, and that by means of a
thin spittle, or watery juice. His organ is the tongue with
his tasting nerves ; the medium, a watery juice ; the object,
taste , or savour, which is a quality in the juice, arising from
the mixture of things tasted. Some make- eight species or
kinds of savour, bitter, sweet, sharp, salt, &c. all which sick
men (as in an ague) cannot discern, by reason of their organs
misaffected.
Touching.] Touch, the last of the senses, and most igno¬
ble, jet of as great necessity as the other, and of as much
pleasure. This sense is exquisite in. men, and, by his nerves
dispersed all over the body, perceives any tactile quality. His
organ t he nerves; his object, those first qualities, hot, dry,
moist, cold; and those that follow them, hard, soft, thick,
thin, &c. Many delightsome questions are moved by philo¬
sophers about these five senses, their organs, objects, mediums,
which for brevity I omit.
SUBSECT. VII.
Of the Inward Senses.
Common sense.] INNER senses are three in number, so
called, because they be within the brain-pan, as common sense,
phantasie, memory. Their objects are not only things present,
but they perceive the sensible species of things to come, past ,
absent, such as were before in the sense. This common sense
is the judge or moderator of the rest, by whom we discern all
differences of objects ; for by mine eye I do not know that I
see, or by mine ear that I hear, but by my common sense, who
judgeth of sounds and colours : they are but the organs to
bring the species to be censured ; so that all their objects are
his, and all their offices are his. The forepart of the brain is
his organ or seat.
a Lib. 19. cap. 2.
S3
Mem. 2. Subs. 7.] Anatomy of the Soul.
Phantasm ] Phantasie, or imagination, which some call
c estimative , or cogitative , (confirmed, saith aFerneli«s, by
frequent meditation) is an inner sense, which doth more fully
examine the species perceived by common sense , of things
present or absent, and keeps them longer, recalling them to
mind again, or making new of his own. In time of sleep, this
faculty is free, and many times conceives strange, stupend,
absurd shapes, as in sick men we commonly observe. His
organ is the middle cell of the brain ; his objects, all the spe¬
cies communicated to him by the common sense , by compa¬
rison of which, he feigns infinite other unto himself. In me¬
lancholy men, this faculty is most powerful and strong, and
oftenhurts, producing many monstrous and prodigious things,
especially if it be stirred up by some terrible object, presented
to it from common sense or memory. In poets and painters,
imagination forcibly works, as appears by their several fictions,
anticks, images, as Ovid’s house of Sleep, Psyches palace in
Apuleius, &e. In men it is subject and governed by reason,
or at least should be ; but, in brutes, it hath no superiour,
and is ratio hrutorum, all the reason they have;
Memory .] Memory layes up all the species which the senses
have brought in, and records them as a good register , that
they may be forth-coming when they nre called for by phan¬
tasie and reason. His object is the same with phantasie ; his
seat and organ, the back part of the brain.
Affections of the senses, sleep and waking .] The affections
of these senses are sleep and waiting, common to all sensible
creatures. Sleep is a rest or binding of the outward senses ,
and of the common sense , for the preservation of body and
soul (as b Scaliger defines it) ; for, when the common sense
resteth, the outward senses rest also. The phantasie alone is
free, and his commander, reason ; as appears by those ima¬
ginary dreams, which are of divers kinds, natural divine,
demoniacal, fyc. which vary according to humours, diet, ac¬
tions, objects, &c. of which, Artemidorus, Cardan us, and
Sambucus, with their several interpretators, have written
great volumes. This ligation of senses proceeds from an in¬
hibition of spirits, the way being stopped by which they
should come; this stopping is caused of vapours arising out
of the stomach, filling the nerves, by which the spirits should
be conveyed. When these vapours are spent, the passage is
open, and the spirits perform their accustomed duties ; so
that waking is the action and motion of the senses , which the
spirits, dispersed over all parts, cause.
* Phys. 1. 5. c. 8.
bExercit. 280.
34
Anatomy of the Soul. [Part. 1. Sect. 1.
SUBSECT. VIII.
Of the Moving Faculty.
Appetite .] This moving faculty is the other power of the
sensitive soul, which causeth ail those inward and outward
animal motions in the body. It is divided into two faculties,
the power of appetite and of moving from place to place.
This of appetite is threefold, (so some will have it) natural,
as it signifies any such inclination, as of a stone to fall down¬
ward, and such actions as retension, expulsion, which de¬
pend not of sense, but are vegetal, as the appetite of meat
and drink, hunger and thirst. Sensitive is common to men
and brutes. Voluntary, the third , or intellective, which com¬
mands the other two in men, and is a curb unto them, or at
least should be (but for the most part is captivated and over¬
ruled by them : and men are led like beasts by sense, giving
reins to their concupiscence and several lusts) ; for by this
appetite the soul is led or inclined to follow that good, which
the senses shall approve, or avoid that which they hold evil.
His object being good or evil, the one he embrace th, the
other he rejecteth— according to that aphorism, omnia appe-
tunt bonum , all things seek their own good, or at least seem¬
ing good. This power is inseparable from sense ; for, where
sense is, there is likewise pleasure and pain. His organ is
the same with the common sense, and is divided into two
powers, or inclinations, concupiscible or irascible, or (as a one
translates it) coveting , anger-invading, or impugning. Con¬
cupiscible covets alwayes pleasant and delightsome things,
and abhors that which is distasteful, harsh, and unpleasant.
Irascible, b quasi aver sans per iram et odium as avoiding it
with anger and indignation. All affections and perturbations
arise out of these two fountains, which although the Stoicks
make light of, we hold natural, and not to be resisted. The
good affections are caused by some object of the same nature ;
and, if present, they procure joy, which dilates the heart, and
preserves the body : if absent, they cause hope, love, desire,
and concupiscence, The bad are simple or mixt: simple ,
for some bad object present, as sorrow, which contracts the
heart, macerates the soul, subverts the good estate of the body,
hindering all the operations of it, causing melancholy, and
many times death itself ; or future, as fear. Out of these two
arise those mixt affections and passions of anger, which is a
desire of revenge— -hatred, which is inveterate anger— -zeal;
*T. W. Jesuit, in tb passions of the Miad, SVelcturie.
35
Mem. 2. Subs. 9.] Anatomy of the Soul.
which is offended with him who hurts that he loves— and
a compound affection of joy and hate, when we
rejoyce at other mens mischief, and are grieved at their pros¬
perity — pride, self-love, emulation, envy, shame, &c. of which
elsewhere.
Moving from place to place, is afaculty necessarily follow¬
ing the other : for in vain were it otherwise to desire and to
abhor, if we had not likewise power to prosecute or eschew,
by moving the body from place to place. By this faculty
therefore we locally move the body, or any part of it, and go
from one place to another: to the better performance of which,
three things are requisite^— that which moves ; by what it
moves; that which is moved. That which moves is either
the efficient cause, or end. The end is the object; which is
desired or eschewed, as in a dog to catch a hare; &c. The
efficient eause in man is reason , or his subordinate phantasie,
which apprehends good or bad objects; in brutes, imagination
alone, which moves the appetite , the appetite this faculty,
which, by an admirable league of nature, and by mediation of
the spirit, commands the organ by which it moves ; and that
consists of nerves,, muscles, cords, dispersed through the whole
body, contracted and relaxed as the spirits will, which move the
muscles, or a nerves in the midst of them, and draw the cord,
and so, per consequens, the joynt, to the place intended. That
which is moved is the body or sofne member apt to move.
The motion of the body is divers, as going, running, leaping,
dancing, sitting, and such like, referred to the predicament
of sitws. Worms creep, birds flye, fishes swim; and so of
parts, the chief of which is respiration or breathing, and is
thus performed : the outward air is drawn in by the vocal ar¬
tery, and sent by mediation of the midrifftothe lungs, which,
dilating themselves as a pair of bellows, recipi’ocally fetch it
in, and send it out to the heart to cool it; and from thence,
now being hot, convey it again, still taking in fresh. Such
a like motion is that of the pulse, of which, because many
have written whole books, I will say nothing.
SUBSECT. IX.
Of the Rational Soul.
In the precedent subsections, I have anatomized those infe-
riour faculties of the soul ; the rational remaineth, a pleasant
but a doubtful subject (as b one terms it), and with the like
brevity to be discussed. Many erroneous opinions are about
aNervi a spiritu moventur, spiritus ab anima. Melanct. . • bVelcurio. Ja-
cundum et anceps subjectum.
36
Anatomy of the Soul. [Part. 1. Sec. I.,
the essence and original of it ; whether it be fire, as Zeno held ;
harmony, as Aristoxenus ; number, as Xe no crates ; whether it
be organical, or inorganical ; seated in the brain, heart, or
blood; mortal, or immortal; how it comes into the body.
Some hold that it is ex traduce , as Phil. 1. de Anima , Tertul-
lian, Lactantius de opific. Dei, cap. 19. Hugo , lib. de Spiritu
et Anima , Vincentius Bellavic. spec, natural, lib. 23. cap.2.et
1 1 . Hippocrates, Avicenna, and many a late writers ; that one
man begets another, body and soul ; or, as a candle from a
candle, to be produced from the seed : otherwise, say they, a
man begets but half a man, and is worse than a beast, that
begets both matter and form ; and, besides, the three faculties
of the soul must he together infused ; which is most absurd, as
they hold, because in beasts they are begot (the two inferiour I
mean), and may not be well separated in men. b Galen sup-
poseth the soul crasin esse, to be the temperature it self ; Tris-
megistus, Musaeus, Orpheus, Homer, Pindarus, Pherecydes
Syrius, Epictetus, with the Chaldees and ^Egyptians, affirmed
the soul to be immortal, as did those Britan cl)ruides of. old.
The d Pythagoreans defend metempsychosis and paligenesia—
that souls go from one body to another, epotd prius Lethes
unda, as men into wolves, bears, dogs, hogs, as they were in¬
clined in their lives, or participated in conditions :
- - - — • — ■ - " — — 6 inque ferinas
Possumus ire domos, pecudumque in pectora condi.
f Lucians cock was first Euphorbus, a captain:
- Ille ego, (nam memini) Trojani tempore belli,
Panthoides Euphorbus eram,
a horse, aman, a spunge. g Julian the A post a ta thought Alex¬
anders soul was descended into his body : Plato, in Tima;q,
and in his Phaedon, (for oughtlcan perceive) differs not much
from this opinion, that it was from God at first, and knew all;
but, being inclosed in the body, it forgets, and learns anew,
which he calls reminiscentia , or recalling ; and that it was
put into the body for a punishment, and thence it goes into
a beasts, or mans, (as appears by his pleasant fiction de sor-
titione animarum, lib. 10. de rep.) and, after hten thousand
years, is to return into the former body again :
aGoclenins, in pag. 302. Bright, inPhys. Scrib. 1. 1. David Crusius, Me-
lancthon, Hippins Hemins, Uevinus Lemnius, &c. b Lib. an mores seqnan-
tnr, &c. e Caesar. 6._com. ' d Read iEneas Gazeus dial, of the immortality
of the soul. e Ovid. met. 15. ' fin Gallo. Idem. sNicephorns,
hist. 1. 10. c. 35. _ hPhmd. k
37
Mem. 2. Subs. 9.], A natomy of the Soul.
- - — apost varios annos, per mille figuras,
Rursus ad human® fertur primordia vitoe.
Others deny the immortality of it, which Pomponatus of Padua
decided out of Aristotle not long since, Plinius Avunculus,
cap. 7. lib. 2. et lib. 7. cap. 55. Seneca , lib. 7. epist. ad Lu-
cilium, epist. 55. Diccearchus, in Tull. Tusc. Epicurus,
Aratus, Hippocrates, Galen, Lucretius, lib. 1.
(Prseterea gigni pariter cum eorpore, et una
' - Crescere sentimus, pariterque senescere, mention)
Averroes, and I know not how many neotericks. b This ques¬
tion of the immortality of the sold is diversely and wonderfully
impugned and disputed, especially amongst the Italians of
late, saith Jab. Colerus, lib. de immort. animce, cap. 1. The
Popes themselves have doubted of it. Leo Decimus, that
Epicurean Pope, as ' some record of him, caused this ques¬
tion to be discussed pro and con before him, and concluded
at last, as a prop bane and atheistical moderator, with that
verse of Cornelius Callus,
Et redit in nihilum, quod fait ante nihil.
it began of nothing ; and in nothing it ends. Zeno and his
Stocks (asd Austin quotes him) supposed the soul so long to
continue, till the body was fully putrified, and resolved into
materia prima but, after that, infumos evanescere, to be ex¬
tinguished and vanish ; and in the meantime whilst the body
was consuming, it wandred all abroad, et e longinquo multa
amunciare, and (as that Clazomenian Hermotimus averred)
saw pretty visions, and suffered I know not what.
e Errant exsangues sine corpore et ossibus umbrae.
Others grant the immortality thereof ; but they make many fa¬
bulous fictions in the mean time of it, after the departure from
the body — like Platos Elysian fields, arid the Turkie paradise.
The souls of good men they deified ; the bad, (saith f Austin)
became devils, as they supposed ; with many such absurd te-
nents,- which he hath confuted. Hierom, Austin, and other
fathers of the church, hold that the soul is immortal, created
of nothing, and so infused into the child or embrio in his
mothers womb, six months after the s conception ; not as
those of brutes, which are ex traduce, and, dying with them,
^Clandian. lib. 1. de rapt. Proserp. b H*c qusestio mtiltos per annos varie ac
mirabiliter irapngnata, &c. « Colerus ibid. d De eccles. dog. cap. 16.
e Ovid. 4. Met. f Bonorum lares; malornm vero larvas et lemures. s Some
say at three days, some six weeks, others otherwise.
38
Anatomy of the Soul. [Part. l.Sec. I.
vanish into nothing — to whose divine treatises, and to the
Scriptures themselves, I rejourn all such atheistical spirits, as
Tully did Atticus, doubting of this point, to Platos Phaedon :
or, if they desire philosophical proofs and demonstrations, 1
refer them to Niphus, Nic. Faventimus Tracts of this subject,
to Fran, and John Picus in digress, sup. 3, de Animd , Tholo-
sanus , Fugubbms , to Soto, Canas, Thomas, Peresius, Dandi-
nus Colerus, to that elaborate Tract in Zanchius, to Tolets
Sixty Reasons, and Lessius Twenty-two Arguments, to prove
the immortality of the soul. Campanella, lih.de sensu rerum, is
large in the same discourse, Albertinus the Schoolman, Jacob.
Nactantus, tom. 2. op. handleth it in four questions- — Antony
Brunus, Aonius Palearius, Marinus Marcennus, with many
others. This reasonable soul, which Austin calls a spiritual
substance moving it self, is defined by philosophers to be the
first substantial act of a natural , humane, organical body , by
which a man lives, perceives and understands, freely doing all
things, and with election: out of which definition we may
gather, that this rational soul includes the powers, and per¬
forms the duties, of the two other, which are contained in it:
and all three faculties make one soul, which is inorganical of
it self (although it be in all parts), andincorporeal, using their
organs, and working by them. It is divided into two chief
parts, differing in office only, notin essence — t he under stand¬
ing, which is the rational power apprehend, mg ; the will, which
is the rational power moving : to w hich two, all the other ra¬
tional powers are subject and reduced.
, StJBSECT. X.
Of the Understanding.
Understanding is a power of the soul, *by which we
perceive, know, remember, and judge, as well singulars as
universals, having certain innate notices or beginnings of
arts, a reflecting action , by which it judgeth of his own
doings, arm examines them. Out of this definition, (besides
his chief office, which is to apprehend, judge all that he per¬
forms, without the help of any instrument or organs) three dif¬
ferences appear betwixta man and abeast : as, first, the sense
only comprehends singularities, the understanding univer¬
salities : secondly, the sense hath no innate notions : thirdly,
brutes cannotreflectupon themselves. Bees indeed make neat
lMelanct,
S9
Mem. 2. Subs. 10.] Anatomy of the Soul.
and curious works, and many other creatures besides; butwhen
they have done they cannot judge of them. His object is
God, Eras, all nature, and whatsoever is to be understood : which
successively it apprehends. The object first moving the under¬
standing ,is some sensible thing; after, by discoursing, the mind
fmdsout the corporeal substance, and from thence the spiritual.
His actions (some say) are apprehension, composition, division ,
discoursing , reasoning, memory, (which some include in inven¬
tion), wad. judgement. The common divisions are of the under¬
standing, agent, and patient ; speculative , and practick; in
habit, or in act ; simple, or compound. The agentiathat which
is called the wit of man, acumen or subtilty, sharpness or in¬
vention, when he doth invent of himself without a teacher, or
learns anew — which abstracts those intelligible species from the
phantasie, and transfers them to the passive understanding,
a because there is nothing in the understanding , which was not
first in the sense. -That which the imagination hath taken from
the sense, this agent judgeth of, whether it be true or false ;
and, being so judged, he commits it to the passible to be kept.
The agent is a doctor of teacher; the passive, a scholar; and
hisoffice is to keep and farther judge of such things as are com¬
mitted to his charge ; as abare andrased table at first, capable
of all forms and notions. Now these notions are two-fold, ac¬
tions or habits', actions, by which we take notions of, and per¬
ceive things : habits, which are durable lights and notions,
which we may use when we will. bSome reckon up eight kinds
of them, sense, experience, intelligence, faith, suspicion, err our,
opinion, science; to which are added art, prudency, wisdom;
as also csynteresis, dictamen rationis, conscience; so that, in all,
there be fourteen species of the understanding, of which some
are innate, as the three last mentioned; the other are gotten*
by doctrine, learning, and use. Plato will have all to be
innate : Aristotle reckons up but five intellectual habits : two
practick, as prudency, whose end is to practice, to fabricate ;
wisdom, to comprehend the use and experiments of all notions
and habits whatsoever ; which division of Aristotle, (if it be '
considered aright) is all one with the precedent : for three
being innate, and five acquisite, the rest are improper, imper¬
fect, and, in a more strict examination, excluded. Of all these
I should more amply dilate, but my subject will not permit.
Three of them I will only point at, as more necessary to my
following discourse.
Synteresis, or the purer part of the conscience, is an innate
* Nihil in intellects quod non prius fnerat in sensu. ,J V elcurio. ' The pure
part of the conscience. “
VOL. I.
M
40
Anatomy of the Soul . [Part 1. Sec, 1.
habit, and doth signifie a conservation of the knowledge of the
law of God and Nature, to know good or evil: and (as our
divines hold) it is rather in the understanding, than in the will.
This makes the major proposition in a practick syllogism.
The dictatem rationis is that which doth admonish us to do
good or evil, and is the minor in the syllogism. The con¬
science is that which approves good or evil, justifying or con¬
demning our actions, and is the conclusion of the syllogism;
as in that familiar example of Regulus, the Roman, taken pri¬
soner by the Carthaginians, and suffered to go to Rome, on
that condition he should return again, or pay so much for his
ransom. The synteresis proposeth the question; his word, oath,
promise, is to be religiously kept, although to his enemy, and
that by the law of nature — do not that to another, which thou
wouldst not have done to thy self . Dictatem applies it to him,
and dictates this or the like : Regulus, thou wouldst not ano¬
ther man should falsifie his oath, or break promise with thee ;
conscience concludes, Therefore, Regulus, thou dost well to
perform thy promise, and oughtest to keep thine oath. More
of this in Religious Melancholy.
SUBSECT. XI.
Of the Will.
WILL is the other power of the rational soul, hvhich covets
or avoids such things as have been before judged and appre¬
hended by the understanding . If good, it approves ; if evil,
it abhors it: so that his object is either good or evil. Aristotle
calls this our rational appetite ; for as, in the sensitive, we are
moved to good or bad by our appetite, ruled and directed by
sense; so, in this, we are carried by reason. Besides, the
sensitive appetite hath a particular object, good or bad ; this,
an universal, immaterial : that respects only things delectable
and pleasant; this honest. Again, they differ in liberty. The
sensual appetite seeing an object, if it be a convenient good,
cannot but desire it ; it evil, avoid it : but this is free in his
essence, Cmuch now depraved, obscured, and fain from his first
perfection, yet, in some of his operations, still free, as to gb,
walk, move at his pleasure, and to choose whether it will do, or
not do, steal, or not steal. Otherwise in vain were laws, de-
a Quod tibi fieri non vis, alteri ne feceris. b Res ab intellectu monstratis re-
cipit, vel rejicit; approbate vel improbat, Philip. — Ignoti nulla cupido. c Me-
anctbon. Operationes plernmque ferae', etsi libera sit ilia in essentia sua.
Mem. 2. Subs. 11.] Anatomy of the Soul. 41
hortations, exhortations, counsels, precepts, rewards, promises,
threats, and punishments : and God should be the author of
sin. But, in a spiritual things we will no good ; prone to evil,
(except we be regenerate, and led by the spirit,) we are eg¬
ged on by our natural concupiscence, and there is a
confusion in our powers ; b our whole will is averse from God
and his law, not iu natural things only, as to eat and drink,
lust, to which we are led headlong by our temperature and
inordinate appetite :
cNec nos obniti contra, nee tendere tantutn,
Sufficimus, - - -
we cannot resist ; our concupiscence is originally bad, our
heart evil ; the seat of our affections captivates and enforceth
will ; so that, in voluntary things we are averse from God and
goodness, bad by nature, by d ignorance worse ; by art, discip¬
line, custome, we get many bad habits, suffering them to do¬
mineer and tyrannize over as ; and the devil is still ready at
hand with his evil suggestions, to tempt our depraved will to
some ill disposed action, to precipitate us to destruction, except
our will be swayed and counterpoised again with some divine
precepts, and good motions of the Spirit, which many times re¬
strain, hinder and check us, when we are in the full career of
our dissolute courses. So David corrected himself when he
had Saul at a vantage. Revenge and malice were as two vio¬
lent oppugners on the one side ; but honesty, religion, fear of
God, with-held him on the other.
The actions of the will are veils and nolle, to will and nil?,
(which two words comprehend all ; and they are good or bad,
accordingly as they are directed) and some of them freely per¬
formed by himself; although the Stoicks absolutely deny it,
and will have all things inevitably done by destiny, imposing
a fatal necessity upon us, which we may not resist : yet we say
that our will is free in respect of us, and things contingent,
howsoever, in respect of God’s determinate counsel, they are
inevitable and necessary. Some other actions of the will are
performed by the inferiour powers, which obey him, as the
sensitive and moving appetite ; as to open our eyes, to go hi¬
ther and thither, not to touch a book, to speak fair or foul : but
this appetite is many times rebellious in us, and will not be
contained within the lists of sobriety and temperance. It was
(as I said) once well agreeing with reason ; and there was an
aIn civilibus libera, sed non in, spifitualibus Qsiander. ■ i> Tota voluntas
arersaaDeo Omnis homo mendax. • cVirg; d Vel propter ignorantiam,
qnod bonis studiis nop sit jnstructa mens, ut debuit, aut divinis prseceptis exculia.
M 2 '
42
Anatomy of the Soul. [Part. 1. Sec. 1.
excellent consent and harmony betwixt them : but that is now
dissolved, they often jar; reason is overborne by passion ,
(Fertur equisauriga; neque audit currus habenas)
as so many wildiiorses run away with a chariot, and will not
be curbed. We know many times what is good, but will not
do it, as she said, -
- a Trahit invitam nova vis ; aliudque cupido,
Mens aliud, suadet :
lust counsels one thing, reason another ; there is a new re-
luetancy in men.
b Odi : nec possum, eupiens, non esse, quod odi.
W e cannot resist ; but, as Phaedra confessed to her nurse, Cquce
loqueris, vera stmt ; sed furor suggerit sequi pejora : she said
well and true (she did acknowledge it) ; but head-strong pas¬
sion and fury made her to do that which was opposite. So
David knew the filthiness of his fact, what a loathsome, foul,
crying sin adultery was ; yet, notwithstanding, he would com¬
mit murther, and take away another man's wife— enforced,
against reason, religion, to follow his appetite.
Thosenaturalandvegetalpowevs are not commanded by imll
at all ; for who can add one cubit to his stature ? These other
may? but are not : and thence come all those head-strong pas¬
sions, violent perturbations of the mind, and many times vi-
tious habits, customs, feral diseases, because we give so much
way to our appetite , and follow our inclination, like so many
beasts. The principal habits axe two in number, vertue and
vice , whose peculiar definitions, descriptions, differences, and
kinds, are handled at large in the ethicks, and are indeed the
subject of moral philosophy.
MEMB. III.
SUBSECT. I.
Definition of Melancholy, Name , Difference.
HAVING thus briefly anatomized the body and soul of man,
as a preparative to the rest — I may now freely proceed to treat
of my intended object to most mens capacity: and, after many
ambages, perspicuously define what thismelancholyis, shewhis
name , and differences. The name is imposed from the matter,
a Medea, Ovid.
b Ovid.
^.Seneca, Hipp.
43
Mem. 3. Subs. 1.] Definition of Melancholy.
and disease denominated from the material cause, (as Bruel ob¬
serves) M z\a,yyphia., quasi MaX«tv %oXij, from black cboler. And
whether it be a cause or an effect, a disease or symptome, let
Donatus Altomarus, and Salvianus, decide ; I will not contend
about it. It hath several descriptions, notations, and defini¬
tions. aFracastorius, in his second book of intellect, calls
those melancholy, whom abundance of that same depraved
humour of black choler hath so misaffected, that they become
mad thence , and dote in most things , or in all , belonging to
election , will, or other manifest operations of the understanding.
bMelanelius out of Galen, Ruffus, Aetius, describe it to be a
bad and peevish disease, which makes men degenerate into
beasts; Galen, a privation or infection of the middle cell of the
head, Sf c. defining it from the part affected ; which c Hercules
de Saxonia approves, lib. 1.. cap. 16. calling it a deprivation of
the principal function ; Fuchsius, lib. 1 cap. 23. Arnoldus
Breviar. lib. 1. cap 18. Guianerius, and others. By reason of
black choler , Paulus adds. Halyabbas simply calls it a common
tion of the mind; Aretseus, d a perpetual anguish of the soul,
fastened on one thing, without an ague ; which definition of his,
Merrialis (de affect, cap. lib. 1. cap. 10.) taxeth ; but TEIianus
Montaltus, defends, (lib. de rrtorb. cap 1. de Melan.) for suffi¬
cient and good. The common sort define it to be a kind of
dotage without a fever, having, for his ordinary companions,
fear and sadness, without any apparent occasion. So doth
Laurentius, cop. 4. Piso, lib.l. cup. 43. Donatus Altomarus
cap.1], art. medic. Jacchinus, in com. in lib. 9. Rhasisad Al-
mansor, cap. 1 5. Valesius, exerc. 17* F uchsius, institut. 3. sec. 1.
c. 1 1. Sfc. which common definition, howsoever approved by
most, e Hercules de Saxonia will not allow of, nor David Cru-
sius, Theat. morb. Derm. lib. 2. cap. 6: he holds it insuffi¬
cient, {as rather shewing what it is not, than what it is ; as
omitting the specifical difference, the phantasieand braiQ: but
I descend to particulars. The summum genius is dotage, or
anguish of the mind, saith Aretaeus ’.—of a principal part. Her*
eules de Saxonia adds, to distinguish it from cramp and palsied
and such diseases as belong to the outward sense and motions ;
“ depraved §to distinguish it from folly and madness, (which
Montaltus makes aiigor animi to separate) in which those func¬
tions are not depraved, but rather abolished ; “ without an
' a Melancholicos vocamus_, quos exsnperantia vel pravitas melancholias " ita male
habet, ut inde insaniant vel in omnibus, vel in pluribus, iisque, manifests, sive ad rec-
tamrationem, voluntatem, pertinent, vel electionem, vel intellectus operationes. b Pes-
shnum et pertinacissimum morbum, qui homines in bruta degenerare cogit. c Panth.
Med. a Angor animi in nna contentione defixus, absque febre. e Cap. 16,
1. 1. - f Eorum definitio, morbus quid non sit, potius quarn quid sit, explicat.
o Animse functiones imminuntur in fatuitate, tolluntur in mania, depravantur solum in
melancholia. Here, de Sax. cap. 1, tract, de Melanch.
44
Of the Parts affected. Sfc. [Part. 1. Sec. 1.
ague’’ is added by all, to sever it" from phrehsie, and that
melancholy which is in a pestilent fever. “Fear and sorrow’'
make it differ from madness : “ without a cause” is lastly in¬
serted, to specifie it from all other ordinary passions of “fear
and sorrow We properly call that dotage, os aLaurentius in¬
terprets it, when some one principal faculty of the mind, as
imagination or reason , is corrupted, as all melancholy persons
have. It is without a fever, because the humour is, most part,
cold and dry, contrary to putrefaction. Fear and sorrow are the
true characters and inseparable companions of most melancholy,
not all, as Her. de Saxonia (Tract, postumo de Melancholia,
cap. 2.) well excepts; for, to some, it is most pleasant, as to
such as laugh most part ; some are bold again, and free from
ail manner of fear and grief, as hereafter shall be declared*,
' SUBSECT. II.
Of the parts affected. Affection. Parties affected.
SOME difference I find amongst writers, about the principal
part affected in this disease, whether it be the brain or heart, or
some other member. Most are of opinion that it is the brain ;
for, being a kind of dotage, it cannot otherwise be, but that the
brain must be affected, as a similar part, be it by h consent or'
essence, not in his ventricles, or any obstructions in them, (for
then it would be an apoplexie, or epilepsie, as c Laurentius well
observes) but in a cold dry distemperature of it in his sub¬
stance, which is corrupt and become too cold, or too dry, or
else too hot, as in madmen, and such’ as are inclined to it :
and this d Hippocrates confirms, Galen, Arabians, and most of
our new writers. Marcus de Oddis (in a consultation of his,,
quoted by e Hildesheim), and five Others there cited, are of the
contrary part, because fear and sorrow, which are passions, be
seated in the heart. But this objection is sufficiently answered
by f Montaltus, who doth not deny that the heartis affected (as
sMelanelius proves out of Galen) by reason of his vicinity ;
and so is the midriff and many other parts. They do com-
pati, and have a fellow-feeling by the law of nature : but, for
as much as this malady is caused by precedent imagination ,
with the appetite, to whom spirits obey ,and are subject to those
a Cap. 4. de mel. b Per consensum, sive per essentiam. c Cap. 4.
de mel. d Sec. 7. de mor. vulgar, lib. 6. e Spicil. de melancholia. '
f Cap. 3. de mel. Pars affecta cerebrum, sive per consensum, sive per cerebrum cbn-
tingat; et procerum, auctoritaie et ratione stabilitur. =Lib. de ipel. Cor verb, ;
vicinitatis ratione, iifl& afficitur,- ac septum transversum, ac stomachus, cum dorsafi '
spina, tkc, " • • -7
Mem. 3. Subs. 2.] Of the Parts affected, 8?c. 45
principal parts ; the brain must needs primarily be iiiis-affected,
as the seat of reason ; and then the heart, as the seat of affec¬
tion. a Capivaccius and Merculialis have copiously discussed
this question; and both conclude the object is the inner
brain, and from thence it is communicated to the heart, and
other inferiourparts,whichsympathize and aremuch troubled,
especially when it comes by consent, and is caused by reason of
the stomach, or myrache (as the Arabians term it), or whole
body, liver, or b spleen, which are seldom free, pylorus mesa-
raick veins, fyc, F or our body is like a clock ; if one wheel be
amiss, all the rest are disordered ; the whole fabrick suffers ;
with such admirable art and harmony is a man composed, such •
excellent proportion, as Lodovicus Yives, in his Fable of
man, hath elegantly declared.
As many doubts almost arise about the c affection , whether
it b ^imagination or reason alone, or both, Hercules de Sa_xo-
nia proves it out of Galen, Aetius, and Altomarus, that the;
sole fault is in d imagination ; Bruel is of the same mind: Mon-
taltus (in his 2 cap. of Melancholy ) confutes this tenet of
theirs, and illustrates the contrary by many examples, as of
him that thought himself a shell-fish; of a nun, and of a des¬
perate monk that would not be perswaded but that he was
damned. Reason was in fault (as well as imagination), which
did not correct this error. They make away themselves often¬
times, and suppose many absurd and ridiculous things. Why-
doth not reason detect the fallacy, settle, and perswade, if she"
he free? e Avicenna therefore holds both corrupt; to whom
most Arabians subscribe. The same is maintained by f Are-1
tseus, Gorgonius, § Guianerius, &c. To end the controversie,
no man doubts of imagination, but that it is hurt andmisaf-
fected here. For the other, 1 determine (with h Albertinus
Bottonus, a doctor of Padua) that it is first in imagination ,
and afterwards in reason, if the disease be inveterate , or as it
is of more or less of continuance ; but by accident, as 1 Here,
de Saxonia adds : faith, opinion, discourse, ratiocination, are
all accidentally depraved by the default of imagination.
Parties affected .] To the part affected, I may here add the
parties, which shall be more opportunely spoken of elsewhere
aLib. 1. cap. 10. Subjectom est cerebrum interius. b Raro quisquam
tumorem effngit lienis, qui hoc morb afficitur. Piso. Quis affectus. c See
Donat, ab Altomar. a Facultas imaginandi, non cogitandi, nec memorandi,
laesa hie. eLib. 3. Fen. 1. Tract. 4. cap. 8. fLib. 3. cap. 5. if Lib.
Med. cap. 19. part 2. Tract. 15. cap. 2. hHildesheim, spicil. 2. de Melanc.
fol. 207, et fol. 127. Quandoque etiam rationalis si affectus inveteratus sit iLib.
postumo de Melanc. edit 1620. Depravatur fides, disenrsus, opinio, &c. per vitium
imaginationis, ex accidenti.
46
Of the Parts affected. [Part 1. Sec. 1.
now only signified. Such as have the Moon, Saturn, Mer¬
cury mis-affected in their genitures— such as live in over-cold,
or over-hot climes — such as are born of melancholy parents,
as offend in those sis non-natural things, are black, or of an
high sanguine complexion, athat have little heads, that have
a hot heart, moist brain, hot liver and cold stomach, have been \
long sick— such as are solitary by nature, great students, given
to much contemplation, lead a life out of action— are most sub¬
ject to melancholy. Of sexes, both, but men more often ; yet
b women mis-affected are far more violent, and grievously trou¬
bled. Of seasons of the year, the autumn is most melancholy.
Of peculiar times, old age, from which natural melancholy is
-almost an inseparable accident; but this artificial malady is
more frequent in such as are of a 0 middle age. Some assign
forty years ; Gariopontus, 80 ; Jubertus excepts neither young
nor old from this adventitious. d Daniel Sennertus involves all
of all sorts., out of common experience; in omnibus omnino cov-
poribus, cujuscunque constitutions, dominatar. Aetius and
Aretaenus ascribe into the number not only e discontented, pas¬
sionate, and miserable persons, swarthy, black, but such as are
most merry and pleasant, scoffers , and high coloured. Generally,
fsaith Rbasis, 8 the finest wits, and most generous spirits, are
before other, obnoxious to it. I cannot except any complexion,
any condition, sex, or age, but h fools and Stoicks, which (ac¬
cording to iSynesius) are never troubled with any manner of
passion, but (as Anacreons cicada, sine sanguine et dolore ) similes
fere diis sunt. Erasmus vindicates fools from this melancholy
catalogue, because they have most part moist brains and light
hearts; k they are free from ambition, envy, shame, and fear ;
they are neither troubled in conscience, nor macerated with cares,
to which our whole life is most subject.
aQui parvum ’caput habent, insensati plerique sunt. Arist. in pbysiognomia.
b Aretseus, lib. 3. c. 5. cQui prope statum sunt. Ar et. Mediis convenit
aetatibus. Piso. dDequartano. epronus ad melancholiam non tam
moestus, sed et hilares, jocosi, cachinnantes, irrisores, et qui plerumque prasrubri snnt.
fLih. 1. part. 2. cap. 1J. g Qui suntsubtilis ingenii, et multse perspicacitatis,
de facili incident in melancholiam. lib. 1. cont. tract. 9. kNunquam sanitate
mentis excidit, aut dolore capitur. Erasm. sIn laud, calvit. k Vacant
conscientise carnificina, nec pudefiunt, nec verentur, nec dilaceraatur millibus cow-
rum, quibus tota vita obnoxia est,_
47
Mem. 3. Subs. 8.] Matter of Melancholy.
SUBSECT. III.
Of the matter of Melancholy.
Of tbe matter of melancholy , there is much question be¬
twixt Avicen and Galen, as you may read in a Cardan’s Con¬
tradictions, bValesius controversies, Montanus, Prosper Cal e-
nus, Capivaccius, c Bright, d Ficinus, that have written either
whole tracts, or copiously of it, in their several treatises of
this subject. e What this humour is, or whence it proceeds ,
how it is ingender ed in the body , neither Galen, nor any old
writer, hath sufficiently discussed, as Jacchinus thinks : the
neotericks cannot agree. Montanus, in his consultations, holds
melancholy to be material or immaterial ; and so doth Arcu-
lanus. The material is one of the four humours before men¬
tioned, and natural; the immaterial or adventitious, Requisite,
redundant, unnatural, artificial, which f Hercules de Saxonia
will have reside in the spirits alone, and to proceed from an
hot, cold, dry, moist distemper ature, which, without matter ,
alter s the brain and functions of it. Paracelsus wholly re¬
jects and derides this division of four humours and com¬
plexions ; butour Gal enists generally approve of it, subscrib¬
ing to this opinion of Blontanus.
This material melancholy is either simple or mi*?— offend¬
ing in quantity or quality , varying according to his place,
where it setletb, as brain, spleen, mesaraick veins, heart,
womb, and stomach— or differing according to the mixture of
those natural humours amongst themselves, or four unnatural
adust humours, as they are diversely tempered and mingled.
If natural melancholy abound in the body, which is cold and
dry, so that it be more g than the body is well able to hear , it
must needs be distempered (saith Faventius) and diseased : and
so the other, if it be depraved, whether it arise from that other
melancholy of choler adust, or from blood, produceth the like
effects, and is, as Montaltus contends, if it come by adustion
of humours, most part hot and dry. Some difference I find,
whether this melancholy matter may be ingendred of all four
humours, about the colour andtemperof it. Galen holds it may
' *Lib. 1. tract. 3. contradic. 18. - bLib. l. cont. 21. c Bright, cap. 16.
dtLib. 1. cap. 6.de sanit. tuenda, e Quisve ant qualis sit humor, aut qu®
istius differentiae, etquomodo gignatur in corpore, scrutandum ; ac enim in re multi
veterum laboraverunt ; nec facile accipere ex Galeno sententiam, ob loquendi varie-
tatem. Leon. Jac. com. in 9. Rhasis, cap. 16. in 9. Rhasis. f Tract, postum.
de Melan. edit. Venetiis, ; 1620. cap. 7 et 8. Ab intemperie caiida, humida, &e.
s Secundum magis aut minus : si in corpore fuerit ad intemperiem, plusquam corpus
salubriter ferre poterit ; inde corpus morbosum efficitur..
48
Matter of Melancholy . [Part l.Sec. I.
be ingendred of three alone, excluding flegm, or pituita ;
whose true assertion aYalesius and Menardus stifly maintain:
and so doth b F uchsius, Montaltus, cMontanus. How (say they)
can white become black? But Hercules de Saxonia ( l.post . de
mela. c. 8.) and d Cardan are of the opposite part (it may be in¬
gendred of flegm, etsi raro contingat, though it seldom come to
pass); soiseGuianerius,andjLaurentius(c. L),withMelancthon,
(in his book de Anima, and chapter of humours ; he calls it
asininam, dull, swinish melancholy , and saith that he was an
eye witness of it) ; so is fWecker. From melancholy adust
ariseth one kind, from choler another, which is most brutish ;
another from flegm, which is dull ; and the last from blood,
which is best. Of these, some are cold and dry, others hot and
dry, s varying according to their mixtures, as they are intended
and remitted. And indeed, as Rodericus a Hons. (cons. 12. /.)
determines, ichorous, and those serous matters, beingthickned,
become flegm; and flegm degenerates into choler; choler adust
becomes oeruginosa melancholia , as vinegar out of purest wi ne
putrifled, or by exhalation of purer spirits, is so made, and be¬
comes sowr and sharp; and, from the sharpness of this humour,
proceed much waking, troublesome thoughts and dreams, &c.
so that I conclude as before. If the humour be cold, it is
(saith h Faventinus) a cause of ‘ dotage, and produceth milder
symptomes : if hot , they are rash, raving mad, or inclining to
it. If the brain be hot, the animal spirits are hot, much mad¬
ness follows, with violent actions: if cold, fatuity and sottish¬
ness ^Capivaccius). k The colour of this mixture varies like-,
wise according to the mixture, be it hot or cold ; ’tis sometimes
black, sometimes not (Altomarus). The same 1 Melanelius
proves out of Galen : and Hippocrates, in his book of Melan¬
choly (if at least it be his) giving instance in a burning coal,
which , when it is hot, shines, when it is cold, looks black ; and
so doth the humour . This diversity of melancholy matter pro¬
duceth diversity of effects. If it be within the “ body, and
not putrifled, it causeth black jaundise ; if putrifled, a quartan
ague : if it break out to the skin, leprosie ; if to parts, several
maladies, as scurvy, &c. If it trouble the mind, as it is di¬
versely mixt, it produceth several kinds of madness and dot¬
age ; of which in their place.
aLib. 1. controvers. cap. 21. bLib. 1. sect. 4. c. 4. c Concil. 26.
dLib. 2. contradic. cap. 11. eDe feb. tract, diff. 2. c. 1. Non est negandnm ex
Lac fieri melancholicos. fIn Syntax. “ Varie aduritnr et miscetur, unde van®
amentium Species. Melanct. 11 Humor frigidus delirii caussa ; furoris calidus, &ci
* Lib. 1. cap. 10. de affect cap. kNigrescit hi° humor, aliquando super-
calefactus, aliquando superfrigefactus. cap. 7. 1 Humor hie niger aliquando
prater modum calejfaetus, et alias refrigeratus evadit: nam recenidbus carbonibus ei
quid simile accidit, qui, durante flamma, pellucidissime candent, ea exstincta prorsus
nigrescunt Hippocrates. m Guianerius, diff. 2. cap. 7.
49
Mem. 3. Subs. 4,] Species of Melancholy.
SUBSECT. IV.
Of the species or kinds of Melancholy.
When the matter is divers and confused, how should it
otherwise be, but that the species should be divers and con¬
fused t Many ne w and old writers have spoken confusedly of it,
confounding melancholy and madnesses aHeurnius,Guianerius,
Gordonius, Sallustius Salvianus, Jason Pratensis, Savanarola,
that will have madness no other than melancholy in extent, dif¬
fering (as I have said) in degrees. Some make two distinct
species, as - Ruifus "Ephesius an old writer, Constantinus,
Afri can us, " Areteeus, b Aurelianus, c Panins iEgineta : others
acknowledge a multitude of kinds, and leave them indefinite,
as Aetius‘(in his Tetrabihlos,) d Avicenna {lib. '3 Fen. 1 Tract.
4. cap. IS.), Areulanus; {cap. 18. in 9), Rhasis, Montanos
(med. part. 1). e If natural melancholy be adust, it maketh
, one kind ; if blood, another ; ifcholer, a third, differing from
the fir si; andsomany several opinions there are about the kinds,
as there be men themselves. Hercules de Saxonia sets down
two kinds, material and immaterial ; one from spirits alone,
the other from humours and spirits. Savanarola (Rub. 1 1,
Tract. 8. cap. 1. de cegritud. capitis) will have the kinds to be
infinite; one from the myrache, called myrachialis of the
Arabians ; another stomachalis from the stomach ; another
from the liver, heart, womb, haemorrhoids ; s one beginning ,
another consummate. Melancthon seconds him ; h as the hu¬
mour is diversely adust and mixt, so are the species divers. But
what these men speak of species, 1 think ought to be under¬
stood of symptomes; and so doth * Areulanus interpret him¬
self i infinite species, id est, symptomes : and, in that sense, (as
Jo. Gorrhsens acknowledged in his medical definitions) the
species are infinite ; but they may be reduced to three kinds,
by reason of their seat — head, body, and hypocondries. This
threefold division is approved by Hippocrates in his book of
Melancholy (if it be his, which some suspect) by Galen {lib. 3.
de loc affectis, cap. 6), by Alexander (lib. 1. cap 16,) Rhasis ,
(lib. 1. Continent. Tract. 9 , lib. 1. cap. 16), Avicenna, and
aNon est mania, nisi extensa melancholia. b Cap. 6. lib. 1. c 2 Ser. 2.
cap. 9. Morbus hie est omnifarius. a Species indefinitae sunt. eSiaduratur
nataralis melancholia, alia sit species ; si sanguis, alia; si flava bilis, alia, diversa a
primis. Maxima est inter has differentia ; et tot doctorum sentential, quot ipsi numero
sunt. f Tract, de. mel. cap. 7. gQuasdam incipiens, qusedam consummata.
h- Gap. de humor, lib. de anima. Varie aduritur et miscetur ipsa melancholia; unde
v arise amentium species. » Cap. 16. in 9. Rhasis.
50
Species of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. I.
most of our new writers. Th, Erastus makes two kinds ; one
perpetual , which is head melancholy ; the other inteiTupt, which
comes and goes by fits, which he subdivides into the other two
kinds, so that all comes to the same pass. Some again make
four or five kinds with Rodericus a Castro ( de morbis mulier.
lib. 2. c. 3.) and Lod. Mercatus, who (in his second book
de mulier. affect, cap. 4) will have that melancholy of nuns,
widows, and more antient maids, to be a peculiar species of
melancholy differing from the rest. Some will reduce enthu¬
siasts, extatical and daamoniacal persons, to this rank, adding '
alove melancholy to the first, and lycanthropia. The most
received division is into three kinds. The first proceeds from
the sole fault of the brain, mid is called head melancholy: the
second sympathetically proceeds from the whole body, when
the whole temperature is melancholy : the third ariseth from
thebowels, liver, spleen, or membrane eal led mesenterium,
named hypocondriacal, or windy melancholy , which bLau~
rentius subdivides into three parts, from those three members,
hepatick , splenetick, mesaraick. Love melancholy (which Avi¬
cenna calls illishi) and lycanthropia (which he calls cucubuthe)
are commonly included in head melancholy : but of this last
(which Gerardus de Solo calls amoreos, and most knight melan¬
choly,) with that of religious melancholy , virginum et viduarum
maintained by Rod. a Castro and Mercatus), and the other
kinds of love melancholy, I will speak apart by themselvesin my
third partition. The three precedent species are the subject
of my present discourse, which I will anatomise, and treat
of, through all their causes, symptomes. Cures together, and
apart; and every man, that is in any measure affected with
this malady, may know how to examine it in himself, and
apply remedies unto it.
It is a hard matter, I confess, to distinguish these three spe¬
cies one from the other, to express their several causes, symp¬
tomes, cures, being that they afe so often confounded amongst
themselves, having such affinity, that they can scarce be dis¬
cerned by the most accurate physicians ; and so often intermixt.
with otherdiseases that thebestexperiencedhavebeenplunged.
Montanus ( consil . 26.) names a patient that had this disease of
melancholy, and caninus appetitus, both together ; and ( consil .
23.) with vertigo- — c Julius Csesar Claudinus, with stone,
gout, jaundice — Trincavellius, with an ague, jaundice, cot-
ninus appetitus, Sfc. dPaulus Eegoline, a great doctor in
his time, consulted in this case, was so confounded with a
confusion of symptomes, that he knew not to what kind of
a Laurentius, cap. 4. de mel. bCap. 13. c480.et 116 consult.,
consil. 12. 3 Hildeshiem, spicil. 2. fol. 166.
51
Memb. 3. Subs. 4.] Species of Melancholy ,
melancholy to refer it. aTrincavellius, Fallopius, andFran-
canzanus, famous doctors in Italy, all three conferred with
about one party at the same time, gave three different opinions :
and, in another place, Trincavellius being demanded what he
thought of a melancholy young man, to whom he was sent
for, ingenuously confessed that he was indeed melancholy,
but he knew not to what kind to reduce it. In his seventeenth
consultation, there is the like disagreement aboutamelaneholy
monk. Those symptomes, which others ascribe to misaffect-
ed parts and humours, b Here, de Saxonia attributes wholly
to distempered spirits, and those immaterial, as I have said.
Sometimes they cannot well discern this disease from others.
In Reinerus Solinanders Counsels, sect, consil. 5. he and Dr. /
Brandeboth agreed, that the patients disease washypochondria-
cal melancholy. Dr. Matholdus said it was asthma, and no¬
thing else. c Solinander and Guarionius, lately sent for to the
melancholy duke of Cleve, with others, could not define what
species it was, or agree amongst themselves ; the species are so
confounded ; as in Caesar Claudinus his forty fourth consulta¬
tion for a Polonian count : in his judgement, d he laboured of
head melancholy , and that which proceeds from the whole tem¬
perature , both at once. 1 could give instance of some that have
had all three kinds semel et simul, and some successively. So
that I conclude of our melancholy species, as e many politicians
do of their pure forms of common- wealths — monarchies, aris¬
tocracies, democracies, are most famous in contemplation ; but,
in practice, they are temperate and usually mixt, (so f Polybius
enibrmeth us) as the Lacedaemonian, the Roman of old,
German now, and many others. What physicians, say of dis¬
tinct species in fheir books, it much matters not, since that in
their patients bodies they are commonly mixt. In such ob¬
scurity therefore, variety and confused mixture of symptomes,
causes, how difficult a thing is it to treat of several kinds apart ;
to make any certainty or distinction among so many casualties,
distractions, when seldom two men shall be like affected per
omnia ! ’Tis hard, I confess ; yet nevertheless I will adventure
through the midst of these perplexities, and, led by the clue or
thread of the best writers, extricate myself out of a labyrinth
of doubts and errours, and so proceed to the causes.
a Trineavellius, tom. 1. consil. 15 et 16. bCap. 13. tract, post, de melan.
£ Guarion. cons. med. 2. ^Laboravit per essentiam, et a toto corpore. <= Ma-
chiavel, &c. Smithus, de rep.Angl. cap. 8. lib. 1. Buscoldns, disenr. polit disenrs. 5.
*ap. 7. Arist, 1. 3. polit. cap. ult. Keckerm. alii, &c. f Lib. 6.
52
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 1.
SECT. II.
MEMB. I.
SUBSECT. I.
Causes of Melancholy. God a cause.
IT is in vain to speak of cures, or think of remedies, until such
time as we have considered of the causes ; soaGa!en prescribes
(Glauco) ; and the common experience of others confirms, that
those curesmust be unperfect, lame, and to no purpose, where¬
in the causes have not first been searched, as bProsper Caleniug
well observes in his tract deatrd bile to Cardinal Csesius : inso¬
much that c Fernelius puts a kind of necessity in the knowledge
of the causes , and, without which, it is impossible to cure or
prevent any manner of disease. Empericks may ease, and some¬
times help,but not thoroughly root out : suhlata caussd, tollitur
effectus , as the saying is ; if the cause be removed, the effect is
likewise vanquished. It is a most difficult thing (I confess)
to be able to discern these causes, whence they ate, and, in
such d variety, to say what the beginning was. f He is happy
that can perform it aright. I will adventure to guess as pear
,as I can, and rip them all up, from the first to the last , general,
and particular to every species , that so they may the better
be descried.
General causes are either supernatural or natural. Super¬
natural are from God and his angels, or, by Gods permission
from the devil and his ministers. That God himself is a
cause for the punishment of sin, and satisfaction of his justice,
many examples and testimonies of holy Scriptures make evi¬
dent unto us: Psal. 107. 17. Foolish men are plagued for
their offence, and by reason of their wickedness: Gehazi Was
strucken with leprosie (2 Reg. 5. 2 J,) Jehoram with dysentery
and flux, and great distress ^of the bowels (2 Chron. 2L 15,)
David plagued for numbering his people (T Par. 21), Sodom
and Gomorrah swallowed up. And this disease is peculiarly
specified, Psal. 127. 1 2. He brought down their heart through
heaviness. Deut. 28. 28. He stroke them with madness,
blindness, and astonishment of heart . f An evil spirit was
a Primo artis curativse. b Nostri primuai sit propositi affectiopum capssas
indagare. Resipsa hortari \idetur ; namalioqui earum curatio manca et inutilis esset.
cPatk lib. 1. cap. 11. Rerum cognoscere caussas, medicis imprimis necessarium ;
sine quo, nec morbum curare, nec prsecavere, licet Tanta enim morbi varietas
ac differentia, ut non facile dignoscatnr, nnde initium morbus sumpserit. Melanelius,
e Galeno. e Felix, qui potuitrerum cognoscere caussas ! i . fl Sam. 16. 14.
Memb. 1. Subs, i.] Causes of Melancholy. S3
sent hy the Lord upon Saul , to vex him. a Nebuchadnezzar
did eat grass like an oxe ; and Ms heart was made like the
beasts of the field. Heathen stories are full of such punish¬
ments. Lycurgus, because he cut down the vines in the
country, was by Bacchus driven into madness ; so wasPentheus
and his mother Agave, for neglecting their sacrifice. b Censor
Fulvius ran mad for untiling Juno’s temple, to cover a new one
of his own, which he had dedicated to Fortune, c and was
confounded to death with grief and sorrow of heart. When
Xerxes would have spoiled d Appllos temple at Delphos of
those infinite riches it possessed, a terrible thunder came from
heaven, and struck 4000 men dead; the rest ran mad. eA
little after, the like happened to Brennus (lightning, thunder,
earthquakes) upon such a sacrilegious occasion. If we may
believe our pontificial writers, they will relate unto us many
strange and prodigious punishments in this kind, inflicted by
their saints how f Clodovaeus, sometime king of France, the
son of Dagobert, lost his wits for uncovering the body of S.
Denis ; and how a § sacrilegious Frenchman, that would have
stolen away a silver image of S. John, at Birgburge, became
frantick on a suddain, raging and tyrannizing over his own
flesh ; — of a h lord of Rhodnor, that, coming from hunting late
at night, put his dOgsinto S. Avans church, (Llan Avan they
called it) and, rising betimes next morning, as hunters use to
do, found all his dogs mad, himself being suddenly strucken
blind of Tiridates, an * Armenian king, for violating some
holy nuns, that was punished in like sort, with loss of his wits.
But poets and papists may go, together for fabulous tales ; let
them free their own credits. Howsoever they fain of their
Nemesis, and of their saints, or, by the devils means, may be
deluded ; we find it true, that ultor a tergo J)eus, K He is God
the avenger, as David stiles him ; and that it is our crying sins
that pull this and many other maladies on our own heads ;
that he can, by his angels, which are his ministers, strike and
heal (saith 1 Dionysius) whom he will ; that he can plague us
by his creatures, sun, moon, and.stars, w hich he useth as his
a Dan. 5. 21. b Lactant. instit. lib. 2. cap. 8. c Mente captus, et snmmo
animi mcerore consumptus. d Munster, cosmog. lib. 4. cap. 43. De cdelo
substemebantur ; tamqnam insani, de sa'xis prseeipitati, &c. _ e Livius, lib. 38.
f Gaguin. 1. 3. e. 4. Quod Dionysii corpus djscooperuerat, in insaniam incidit.
sldem, lib. 9. sub Carol. 6. Sacrorusn contemptor, templi foribus effractis, dum
D. Johannis argenteuin simulacrum rapere coctendit, simulacrum aversa facie dorsum
ei versat ; nec mora, sacrilegus mentis icops, atque in ternet insaniens, in proprios
artus dessevit. hGiraldus Cambrensis, lib. 1. cap. 1. Itinerar. Cambrias.
1 Delrio, tom. 3. lib. 8. sect. 3. quaest 3. kPsal. 44. 1. 'Lib. 8.
cap. de Hierar. ' -
54
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
instruments, as a husbandman (saith Zanchius) doth an
hatchet. Hail, snow, winds, &c.
(aEt conjurati veniunt in classica venti;
as in Joshuas time, as in Pharaohs reign in /Egypt) they are
but as so many executioners of his j ustice. He can make the
proudest spirits stoop, and cry out, with Julian the Apostate,
Vicisti, Galiltee ! or, with Apollos priest in b Chrysostome, 0
coelum ! 0 terra J unde hostis hie ? What an enemy is this ? -
and pray with David, acknowledging his power, I am weakened
and sore broken; I roar for the grief of mine heart ; mine heart
panteth, §-c. (Psal. 38. 8.) O ford, rebuke me not in thine
anger , neither chastise me in thy wrath (Psal. 38. 1 ). Make me
to hear joy and gladness,that the bones which thou hast broken ,
may rejoice ( Psal. 51 . 8. and verse 12.) Restore to me the joy
of thy salvation, andstablish me with thy free spirit. For these
causes, belike, Hippocrates would have a physician takespecial
notice whether the disease comenotfrom a divine supernatural
cause, or whether it follow the course of nature. But this, is
farther discussed by Fran. Valesius (de sacr . philos. cap. 8.),
dFernelius, and e J. Caesar Claudinus, to whom I refer you,
how this place of Hippocrates is to be understood. Paracelsus
is of opinion, that such spiritual diseases (for so he calls them)
are spiritually to be cured, and not otherwise. Ordinary
means in such cases will not avail : non est reluctandum cum
Deo. When that monster-taming Hercules overcame all in
the Olympicks, Jupiter at last, in an unknown shape, wrestled
with him ; the victory was uncertain, till at length Jupiter
descried himself, and Hercules yielded. 1 No striving with
supream powers :
Nil juvat immensos Cratero promittere montes :
physicians and physick can do no good ; f we must submit our¬
selves under the mighty hand of God, acknowledge our offences,
call to him for mercy. If he strike us, una eademque mams
vulnus opemque feret, as it is with them that are wounded with
the spear of Achilles; he alone must help ; Otherwise our
diseases are incurable, and we -not to be relieved.
a Claudian. bDe Babila martyre. c Lib. cap. 5. prog. dLib. 1.
de abditis rerum caussis. cRespons. med. 12. resp. f 1, Pet. 5. 6.
Mem. 1. Subs. 2.] Causes of Melancholy.
55
SUBSECT. II.
A Digression of the nature of Spirits , had Angels, or Devils,
and how they cause Melancholy.
Hoy/ far the power of spirits and devils doth extend, and
whether they can cause this, or any other disease, is a serious
question, and worthy to be considered : for the better under¬
standing of which, I will make a brief digression of 'the nature
of spirits. And, although the question be very obscure(accord-
ing to aPostellus ) fufl of controversie and ambiguity, beyond
thereachofhumanecapacity — ( faieor excederevires intentionis
merce, saith b Austin ; I confess I am not able to understand it ;
finitum de infinito non potest statuere : we can sooner determine
with Tully, ( denat . deorum ,) quid non sint,quam quid sint ; our
subtle schoolmen, Cardans, Scaligers, profound Thomists./'Va-
castorianaetFerneliana acies, are weak, dry, obscure, defective,;
in these mysteries ; and all our quickest wits, as an owles eyes
at the sun’s light, wax dull, and are not sufficient to apprehend
them')— yet, as in the rest, I vrill adventure to say something to
this point. In former times, (as we read, Acts 23,) the Saddu-
cees denied that there were any such spirits, devils, or angels.
So did Galen the physician, the Peripateticks, even Aristotle
himself, as Pomponatius stoutly maintains, and Scaliger in
some sort grants ; though Dandinusthe Jesuite (com, in lihJd.de
anima) stilly denies it. Substantiae separatee, and intelligences,
are thesame whichCbristians call angels, and Platonists devils;
for they name all the spirits, deemones, be they good or bad an¬
gels, as Julius Pollux ( Onomasticon , lib. 1. cap. 1.) observes.
Epicures and atheists are of the same mind in general, because
they never saw them. Plato, Plotinus, Porphyrius, Jamblicus,
Proclus, (insisting in the steps of Trismegistus, Pythagoras and
Socrates) make no doubt of it ; nor Stoicks, but that there are
such spirits, though much erring from the truth. Concerning
the first beginning of them, the c Thalmudists say that Adam
had a wife called Lilis, before he married Eve, and of her he
begat nothing but devils. The Turks d Alcoran is altogether as
absurd and ridiculous in this point ; but the scripture informs
a Lib. l. c. 7. de orbis concordi&. In nnlla re major fnit altercatio, major obsenritas,
minor opiriionnm concordia quam de daemonibus et snbstaiitiis separatis. b Lib. 3.
de Trinit. Gap. 1. cPererius, in Genesin, lib. 4. in cap. 3. v. 23- a See’
Strozzius Cicogna, omnifarae Mag. lib. 2.x.' 15. J. Anbanus, Bredenbachius.
VOL. I. N
56
Nature of Devils. [Part. 1. Sec, %
us Christians, how Lucifer, the chief of them, with his asso¬
ciates, a fell from heaven for his pride and ambition — created
of God, placed in heaven, and sometimes an angel of light,
now cast down into the lower aerial sublunary parts, or into
hell, and delivered into chains of darkness (2 Pet. 2. 4.) to be
kept unto damnation .
Nature of Devils.'] There is a foolish opinion, which some
hold, that they are the souls of men departed; good and more
noble were deified ; the baser groveled on the ground, or in
the lower parts, and were devils ; the which, with Tertullian,
Porpliyrius the philosopher, M. Tyrius, ser. 27. maintains.
These spirits, he b saith, which we call angels and devils , are
nought hut souls of men departed, which , either through love
and pity of their friends yet living , help and assist them,
or else persecute their enemies, whom they hated ; as Dido
threatned to persecute JEneas :
Omnibus umbra locis adero : dabis, improbe, pcenas.
They are (as others suppose)appointed by those higher pow¬
ers to keep men from their nativity, and to protect or punish
them, as they see cause ; and are called honi and malt genii
by the Romans — heroes, lares, if good, lemur es or larvae, if bad
— -by the Stoicks, governours of countries, men, cities, saith
cApuleius; Deos appellant, qui ex hominum tiumero, juste ad
prudenter vitas curriculo gubernato, pro numiue, postea ah ho*
minibus prcediti fanis el cceremoniis vulgo adriiittuntur, ut in
Mgyplo Osiris, Sfc. Prdestites Capella calls them which pro¬
tected particular men as well as princes. Socrates had his
- dasmonium saturninum et igneum, which, of all spirit is best,
ad sublimes congitationes animum erigentem, as the Platonists
supposed ; Plotinus his ; and we Christians, our assisting an¬
gel, as Andreas Victorellas, a copious writer of this subject,
Ludovieus de La Cerda the Jesuile, ip his voluminous tract de
Angelo Custode , Zanchius, and some divines think. Rut this
absurd tenet of Tyrius, Proclus confutes at large in his book
de Animd et Dcemone.
d Psellus, a Christian and sometimes tutor (saith Cuspinian)
to Michael Parapinatius, emperourof Greece, a great observer
of the nature of devils, holds they are e corporeal, and have
aerial bodies ; that they are mortal, live and dye (which Martia-
nusCapella likewise maintains, but our Christian pholosophers
a Angelus per superbium separates a Deo, qui inveritate non stetit, Anstin. & Ni¬
hil. aliud sunt Bsemones, quam nudge animae, quas, corpora deposit©, priorem miserati
vitam, cognatis succnrrunt, eommoti misericordia, &c. ' cDe Deo Socratis. -
d He lived 500 years since. e Apuleius. Spiritus animalia sunt animo passibilia,
saeate rationalia, corpore aeria, tempore sempiterna.
57
Mem. 1. Subs. 2."] Nature of Devils.
explode) ; that a they are nourished, and have excrements; that
they feel pain, if they he hurt (which Cardan confirms, and
-Scaliger justly laughs him to scorn for; si pascantur acre,
cur non pugnant oh puriorem a'era ? fye.) or stroken : and if
their bodies be cut, with admirable celerity they come toge¬
ther again. Austin (in Gen. lib. 3. lib. arbit.) approves as
much : mutata casu corpora in deteriorem qualitafem aeris
spissioris: so doth Hierom ( Comment . in epist. ad EpJies.
cap. 3.), Origen, Tertullian, Laotantius, and many ancient
fathers of the. church, that, in their fall, their bodies were
changed into a more aerial and gross substance- Bodine
lib. 4. Theatri Naturae,) and David Crusius ( Hermeticce
Philosophies lib 4. cap. 4) by several arguments proves an¬
gels and spirits to be corporeal : quidquid continetur in loco,
corporeum est : at spiritus continetur in loco. ergo. Si spifitus
sunt quanti, erunt corporei: at sunt quanti, ergo. Sunt finiti,
ergo quanti, Sfc. b Bodine goes further yet, and will have these
animee separatee, genii, spirits, angels, devils, and so likewise
souls of men departed, if corporeal (which he most eagerly
contends), to be of some shape, and that absolutely round, like
sun and moon, because that is the most perfect form, quae nihil
habit asperitatis, nihil angulis incisum,nihil anfractibus involu-
tum,nihileminens,sedinter corporaperfecta estpevfectissimurh ,*-
therefore all spirits are corporeal (he concludes), and in their
proper shapes round. That they can assume other aerial bodies,
all manner of shapes at their pleasures, appear in what likeness
they will themselves ; that they are most swift in motion, can
pass many miles in an instant, and so likewise transform bodies
of others into what shape they please, and with admirable cele¬
rity remove them from place to place; (as the angel did Ha-
bakkuk to Daniel, and as Philip the deacon was carried away by
thespirit,when he had baptised the eunuch ; so did Pythagoras
and Apollonius remove themselves and others, with many such
feats) that they can represent castles in the ayre, pallaces,
armies, spectrums, prodigies, and such strange objects to mor¬
tal mens eyes, d cause smells, savours, &c. deceive all the
senses; most writers of this subject credibly believe ; and that
they can foretell future events, and do many strange miracles
aNutriuntur, et excrementa habent ; quod pulsata doleant, solido perenssa corpore.
b Lib. 4. Theol. nat. fol. 535. _ _ e Cyprianas, in Epist. Montes etiam et animalia
transferri possunt : as the devil did Christ to the top of the pinnacle ; and vritches are
often translated. See more in Strozzius Cicogna, lib. 3. cap. 4. omnif. mag. Peraera
s'jbducere, et in sublime corpora ferre possnnt Biarmanus. — Percussi dolent, et
uruntur in conspicuos cineres. Agrippa, lib. 3. cap. de occul. Philos. d Agrippa,
de occult. Philos, lib. 3. cap. 18,
58
Nature of Devils. [Part. 1. Seer 2.
Junos image spake to ’Camillus, and Fortunes statue to the
Roman matrons, with many such. Zan chius, Bodine, Sponda-
nus, and others, are of opinion that they cause a true metamor¬
phosis, (as Nehuchadnezar was really translated into a beast,
Rots wife into a pillar of salt, Ulysses companions into hogs
anddogs by Circes charms) turn themselves and others, as they
do witches into cats, dog's, hares, crows, &c. (Sfrozzius Cicogna
hath many examples, lib. 3. omnif mag. cap 4. et 5. which he
there confutes, as Austin likewisedoth, de civ. Dei. lib. 18.)—.
that they can be seen when and in what shape, and to. whom
they will .(saith Psellus, Tametsi nil tale viderim, nee optem
. videre, though he himself never saw them nor desired it), and
use sometimes carnal copulation (as elsewhere 1 shall a prove
more at large) with women and men. Many will not believe
they can be seen ; and, if any man shall sayr swear, and stilly
maintain, (though he be discreet and wise, judicious and learn¬
ed) that he hath seen them, they account him a timorous fool,
a melancholydizafd, a weak fellow, a dreamer, a sick or a mad
man ,• they contemn him, laugh him to scorn ; and yet Marcus,
of his credit, told Psellus, that he had often seen them. And
Leo Suavius, a Frenchman, (c 8. inCommentaf .1. 1 . Paraceki
de vita longd, out of some Platonists) will have the ayre to be
as full of them as suo\y falling in the skies, and that they may
be seen, and withal sets down the means how men may see
them ; Si irreverberatis oculis , sole splendente, versus coelum
continuaverintobtutus, ^•c.andsaithmoreover he tryed it ,(prce-
missorumfeci experimentum) a n d it was true, that the Platonists
said . Paracelsus cbnfesseth that he saw them divers times and
conferred with them ; and so doth Alexander ah b Alexandra,
that he so found it by experience , when as before he doubted of
it. Many deny it, saith Lavater, (de spectris, part. l. c 2. et
part 2. c. 1 i .) because they never saw themselves : But, ashe
reports at large ail over his book, especially c. 10. part. 1, they
are often seen and heard, and familiarly converse with men, as
Lod. Vives assureth ns, innumerable records, histories, and
testimonies evince in all ages, times, places, and cal! travellers
besides. In the West Indies, and our northern climes, nihil
familiarius quam in agris et urbibus spiritus videre, audire,
qui vetent, jubeant, $-c. Hieronymus (vita Pauli), Basil (ser-
40), Nicephorus, Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomenus, d Jacobus
Boissardus (in his tract de spirhuum apparitiohibus), Petrus
a Part 3. sect. 2. Mem. Subs. 1. Love Melancholy- b Genial, diernm
Ita sibi visum et compertum, quum prins, an essent, ambigeret — Fidem suam
liberet c Lib. 1. de vent. Fidei. Benzo, &c. d Lib. de Divinatione
et Magia. - - , " ;
Mem. L. Subs. 2.]
Nature of Devils.
Loyerus {Jl.de spectris) Wierus (1. 1.) have infinite variety of
such examples of apparitious of spirits, for him to read that
farther doubts, to his ample satisfaction. One alone I will
briefly insert. A noble man in Germany was sent ambassa-
dour to the king of Sueden (for his name, the time, and such
circumstances, I refer you to Boissardus, mine a author).
After he had done his business, he sailed for Livonia, on set
purpose to see those familiar spirits, which are there said to
be conversant with men, and do their drudgery works.
Amongst other matters, one of them told him where his wife
was, in what room, in what cloathes, what doing, and brought
him a ring from her, which at his return, non sine omnium
admiratione, he found to be true; and so believed that ever
after, which before he doubted of. Cardan (/. 19. de subtil .)
relates of his father Facius Cardan, that, after the accustomed
solemnities, An. 1491, 13 August, he conjured up seven de¬
vils in Greek apparel, about 40 years of age, some ruddy of
complexion, and some pale, as he thought : he asked them
many questions ; and they made ready answer, that they
were aerial devils, that they lived and died as men did, save
that they were far longer liw’d, (seven or eight hundred
b years,) and that they did as much excel men in dignity, as
we do juments, and were as far excelled again of those that
were above them t our cgovernours andkeepers they are more¬
over, (which d Plato in Critias delivered of old,) and subordi¬
nate to one another : ut enim homo homini, sic dcemon deemoni
dominatur ; they rule themselves as we!!. as us : and the spirits
of the meaner sort had commonly such offices,- as we make
horse-keepers, neat-herds, and the basest: of us, overseers of
our cattle; and that we can no more apprehend their natures
and functions, than an horse a mans, they knew all things,
but might not reveal them to men ; and ruled and domineered
over us, as we do over our horses ; the best king amongst us,
and the most generous spirits, were not comparable to the
basest; of them. Sometimes they did instruct men and com¬
municate their skill, reward and cherish, and sometimes again
terrifie and punish, to keep them in awe, as they thought fit;
nihil magis cupientes (saith Lysius, Phys. Stdicorum ) quarn
adorationem hominum. The same author Cardan in his Hy-
perchen, out of the doctrine of Stoicks, will have some of these
genii (for so he calls them) to be e desirous of mens company,
*> Sic Hesiodus
e Custodes homi-
brutis animantibus.
eNatura fami-
. a Cap. 8. Transportavit in Livoniam, cupiditate videndi, &c.
de Nymphis, yivere dicit 10 estates phqenicum.
num et provinciarum, &c. tanto meliores hominibus, quanto hi
d Presides. pastores, gubernatores hominum, ut illi animalium.
Hares ut canes hominibus ; multi aversantur et abhorrent.
60
Nature of Spirits. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
very affable, and familiar with them, as dogs are ; others again
to abhor as serpents, and care not for them. The same, belike,
Tritbemius calls igneos et sublunar es, qui nunquam demergunt
ad inferior a, aut vix ullum habent in terris commercium : a gene¬
rally they far excell men in worth, as a man the meanest worm ;
though some of them are infer iour to those of their own rank in
worth, as the black guard in a princes court, and to men again ,
as some degenerate, base rational creatures are excelled of brute
beasts..
That they are mortal, besides these testimonies of Cardan,
Martianus, &c. many other divines and philosophers hold
Cpost prolixum tempus moriuntur omnes), the bPlatonists, and
some Rabbines, Porphyrins and Plutarch, as appears by that
relation of Thamus : cThe great god Pan is dead : Apollo Py-
thius ceased ; and so the rest. S. Hierome, in the life of
Paul the eremite, tells a story how one of them appeared to
S. Anthony in the wilderness, and told him as much. dParaceI-
sus, of our late writers, stifly maintains that they are mortal,
live and die, as other creatures do. Zosimus (I. 2.) farther
adds, that religion and policy dies and alters with them. The
* Gentiles gods, he saith, were expelled by Constantine ; and,
together with them, imperii Romani majestas etfortuna inte-
riit et prof igata est ; the fortune and majesty of the Roman
empire decayed and vanished; as that heathen in f Minutius
formerly bragged, when the Jews were overcome by the Ro¬
mans, the Jews god was likewise captivated by that of Rome;
and Rabsakeh to the Israelites, no god should deliver them out
of the hands of the Assyrians. But these paradoxes of their
power, corporeity, mortality, taking of shapes, transposing
bodies, and carnal copulations, are sufficiently confuted by
Zauch. (e. 10. 1. 4) Pererius, (in bis comment) and Tostatus
(questions on the sixth of Gen.) Th. Aquin. S. Austin, Wie-
rus, Th. Erastus, Uelrio, (tom. 2. 1. 2 quasi. 29.) Sebastian
Michaelis (cap. 2. de spiritibus\, D. Reinolds '(lect. 47«) They
may deceive the eyes of men, yet not take true bodies, or make
a real metamorphosis: but as Cicogna proves at large, they
are sillusorice et prcestigiatrices transformations ( omnif. mag .
lib. 4. cap. 4.), meer illusions and cozenings, like that tale of
Pasetis obulus in Suidas, or that of Autolycus, Mercuries son;
a Ab homine plus distant, quam homo ab ignobilissimo verna; et taman quidam ex
his ab hominibus superantur, ut homines a feris, &c. &Cibo et potu uti, et
JVenere cum hominibus, ac tandem mori. Cicogna, 1. part, lib. 2. c. 3. c Plutarch,
de defect, oraculorum. d Lib. de Zilphis et Pygmads. eDii gentium a
Constantino profligati sunt, &c. f Octavian. dial. Judaeorum deum fuisse Romano-
rum numinibus una cum gente captivum. , i Omnia spiritibus plena ; et ex eonnn
concordia et.discordia omnes boni et mali effectus promanant, omnia huniana reguhtar.
Paradox, veterum, de quo Cicogna, omnif. mag. 1 2. c 3.
61
Mem. 1. Subs. 2.] Nature of Spirits.
that dwelt in Parnassus, who got so much treasure by cozen¬
age and stealth. His father Mercury, because he could leave
him no wealth, taught him many fine tricks to get means ; afor
he could drive away mens cattel, and, if any pursued him,
turn them into what shapes he would, and so did mightily en¬
rich himself ; hoc a&tu maximam prcedam est adsequutus .
This, no doubt, is as true as the rest; yet thus much in ge-
' neral, Thomas, Durand, and others grant, that they have un¬
derstanding far beyond men, can probably conjecture, and
b foretell many things : they can cause and cure most diseases,
deceive our senses; they have excellent skill in all arts and
sciences ; and that the most illiterate devil is quovis homine
scientior, as c Cicogna maintains out of others. They know
the vertues of herbs, plants, stones, minerals, &c. of all crea¬
tures, birds, beasts, the four elements, stars, planets ; can aptly
apply and make use of them as they see good, perceiving the
causes of all meteors, and the like ; Dant se coloribus, (as
d Austin hath it,) accommodant se figuris , adhcerent sonis, sub-
jiciunt se odoribus, infundunt se saporibus, omnes sensus, etiam
ipsam intelligentiam, dcemones fallunt : they deceive all our
senses, even our understanding itself, at once. eThey can
produce miraculous alterations in the ayre, and most wonder¬
ful effects, conquer armies, give victories ; help, further, hurt,
cross, and alter humane attempts and projects, (Dei permissu)
as they see good themselves. fWhen Charles the great in¬
tended to make a channel betwixt the Rhine and Danubius,
look, what his workmen did in the day, these spirits flung
down in the night : ut conaturex desisteret, pervicere. Such
feats can they do. But that which Bodine (/. 4. Tkeat. nat.)
thinks, (following Tyrius belike and the Platonists) they can
tell the secrets of a mans heart, aut cogitationes , hominum , is
most false : his reasons are weak, and sufficiently confuted by
Zanch. (lib. 4. cap. 9.), Hierom, (lib. 2. com. in Mat. ad
cap. 15.) Athanasius (qucest. 27. ad Antiochum Principem),
and others.
Orders. ] As for those orders of good and bad devils — which
the Platonists hold, is altogether erroneous; and those Ethnicks
a Oves, quas abacturus erat, in qnascnnque formas vertebat. Pausanias, Hyginus.
b Austin, in 1. 2. de Gen. a literam, cap. 17. Partim quia subtilioris sensus acumine,
partim scientia callidiore vigent, et experientia propter magnam longitudinem vita;,
partim ab angelis discunt, &c. cLib. 3. omnif. mag. cap 3. Lib. 18. qusest.
e Qnum tanta sit et tarn profunda spirituum scientia, mirum non est tot tantasque res
yisu admirabiles abipsis patrari, et quidem rerum natnralinm ope, quas multo melius
intelligunt, multoque peritius suis locis et temporibus applicare norunt quam homo.
Cicogna. f Aventinus. Quidquid interdiuexhauriebatur, nocte explebatur.
Inde pavefacti curalortss, &c.
62
Nature of Spirits. [Part. I. Sec. 2.
from and mail genii are to be exploded. These heathen writ¬
ers agree not in this point among themselves, as Dandinus
notes ; an shit a mali,non conveniunt ; some will have all spirits
good or bad to us by a mistake : as, if an oxe or horse could
discourse, he would say the butcher was his enemy because he
killed him, the grasier his friend because he fed him ; an hunter
preserves and yet kills his game ; and is hated nevertheless
of his game ; nee piscatorem piscis amare potest, Sf-c. But
JamblicuSjPselius, Plutarch, and most Platonists, acknowledge
bad, et ah eorum mafr ficiis cavendum, for they are enemies of
mankind ; and this Plato learned in Egypt, that they quar¬
relled with Jupiter, P and were driven by him down to hell.
That which cApuleius, Xenophon, and Plato contend of So¬
crates dcemonium, is most absurd ; that" which Plotinus of his,
that he had likewise Deumpro dcemonio ; and that which Por¬
phyry concludes of them all in general, if they be neglected
in their sacrifice, they are angry ; nay more, as Cardan in his
Hyperchen, will, they feed on mens souls: elementa sunt
plantis elementum, animalibus plant as, hominibus animalia,
erunt et homines, aliis, non autem diis ; nimis enim remota est
eorum natura a nostra ; qua propter dcemonibus : and so, be¬
like, that we have so many battles fought in ail ages, coun¬
tries, is to make them a feast, and their sole delight. But; to
return to that I said before— if displeased, they fret and chafe,
/for they, feed, belike, on the souls of beasts, as we do on
their bodies) f and send, many plagues amongst us ; but, if
pleased, then they do much good ; is as vain as the rest, and
confuted by Austin (/. 9. c. 8. de Civ., Dei,) Euseb. (LA.
prcepar. Evang. c. 6.) and others. Yet thus much I find;
that our school-men and other d divines make nine kinds; of
bad spirits, as Dionysius hath done of angels. In the first
rank, are'“ those false gods of the Gentiles, which were adored
heretofore in several idols, and gave oracles at Delphos, and
elsewhere ; whose prince is Beelzebub. The second rank
is of lyars and sequivocators, as Apollo Pythius, and the
like. The third are those vessels of anger, inventors of all
mischief ; as that Theutus in Plato; Esay calls them. evessels
of fury; their prince is Belial. The fourth are malicious re-
vengingdevils; and their prince is Asmodasus. The fifth kind
are cozeners, such as belong to magicians and witches; their
prince is Satan. The sixth are those aerial devils, that
aIn lib. 2, de an™ a, text. 99. Homerus indiscriminatim omnes spiritiis daermones
vocal. b A Jove ad inferos polsi, &c. cDe Deo Socratis. Adest
mihi divina soil* dsemoniam quoddatn, aprima pneritia me seqnutum ; saepe dissnadet;
irapelKt nonnunquam, instar vocis. Plato. d Agrippa, lib. 3. de occtil. ph. c. 18.
Zanch. Pictoriq^, Pererius, Cicogna, 1. 3, cap. 1. e Vasa irae, c.13. .
63
Mem. 1 . Subs. 2.] JV viture of Spirits.
a corrupt the aire, and cause plagues, thunders, fires, &c.
spoken of in the Apocalyps, and Paul to the Ephesians names
them the princes of the ayre; Meresin is their prince. The
seventh is a destroyer, captain of the Furies, causing wars,
tumults, combustion, uproars, mentioned in the Apocalyps,
and called Abaddon. The eight is that accusing or calum¬
niating devil, whom the Greeks call a <a£oXos, that drives men
to despair. The ninth are those tempters in several kinds ;
and their prince is Mammon. Psellus makes six kinds, yet
none above the moon. Wierus, in his Pseudomonarchid
Dcemonis, out of an old book, makes many more divisions
and'subordinations, with their several names, numbers, offices,
&c. but Gazeeus (cited by b Lipsius) will have all places full of
angels, spirits, and devils, above and beneath the moon, setherial
and aerial, which Austin cites out of Varro, l. 7. deCiv.Dei , e. 6.
The celestial devils above, and aerial beneath, or as c some
will, gods above, semidei or half gods beneath, lares , heroes , „
genii, which clime higher, if they lived well (as the Stoicks
held), but grovel on the ground, as they were baser in their
lives, nearer to the earth ; and are manes, lemur es, lamice, %-c.
d They will have no place void, but all full of spirits, devils, or
some other inhabitants ; Plenum caelum, aer , aqua, terra, et
omnia sub terra, saith Gazseus ; though Anthony Rusca (in his
book de Inferno, lib. 5. cap. 7.) would confine them to the
middle region, yet they will have them everywhere ; e not so
much as an hair breadth empty in heaven, earth, or waters,
above or under the earth. The air is not so full of flies in
summer, as it is at all times of invisible devils : this f Paracelsus
stifly maintains, and that they have every one their several
chaos ; others will have infinite worlds, and each world his
peculiar spirits, gods, angels, and devils, to govern and
punish it.
Sjngula s nonnulli-credunt quoque sidera posse
Dici orbes : terramque appellant sidus opacum,
Cui minimus divfim preesit. -
h Gregorius Tholosanus makes seven kinds of setherial
spirits or angels, according to the number of the seven planets,
Saturnine, Jovial, Martial, &c. of which Cardan discourseth,
lib. 20 de subtil, he calls them substantias primas; Olympicos
daemones, Trithemius, qui prcesunt Zodiaco , fyc. and will
a Qtdbus datum est nocere'terr® et mart, &c. b Physiol Stoicornm e Senec-.
lib. 1. cap. 28. c Usque ad lunam animas esse aethereas, voearique heroas,
lares, genios. a Mart. Capella. e Nihil vacuum ab his, ubi vel capillum
. inaerem vel aquam jacias. f Lib. de Zilp. e Palingenius. hLib.7.
cap. 34. et 5. Syntax, art. mirab.
64
Nature of Spirits. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
have them to be good angels above, devils beneath the moon ;
their several names and offices he there sets down, and (which
Dionysius, of angels) will have several spirits for several coun¬
treys, men, offices, &c. which live about them, and as so many
assisting powers, cause their operations ; will have, in a word,
innumerable, and as many of them as there be stars in the
skies. a Mareilius Ficinus seems to second this opinion, out
of Plato, or from himself, I know not, (still ruling their in-
feriours, as they do those under them again, all subordinate ;
and the nearest to the earth rule us ; whom we subdivide into
good and bad angels, call gods or devils, as they help or hurtus,
and so adore, love or hate) but it is most likely from Plato, for
he, relying wholly on Socrates ,.quem mori potius quam mentiri
voluisse scribit, out of Socrates authority alone, made nine
kinds of them : which opinion, belike, Socrates took from
Pythagoras, and he from Trismegistus, he from Zoroaster—
first, God, secondly, ideae, thirdly, intelligences, fourthly,
arch-angels, fifthly, angels, sixthly, devils, seventhly, heroes,
eighthly, principalities, ninthly, princes ; of which some were
absolutely good, as gods, some bad, some indifferent inter
deos et homines, as heroes and dcemones, which ruled men,
and were called genii, or (as b Proclus and Jamblicus will) the
middle betwixt God and men, principalities and princes,
which commanded and swayed kings and countreys, and had
places in the sphears perhaps; for, as every sphear is higher,
so hath it more excellent inhabitants ; which, belike, is that
Galilseus a Galilaeo and Kepler aims at in his Nuncio Siderio,
when he will have c Saturnine and Jovial inhabitants, and
which Tycho Brahe doth in some sort touch or insinuate in
one of his epistles : but these things d Zanchius justly ex¬
plodes, cap. 3 lib 4 4, P. Martyf. in 4. Sam. 28.
So that according to these men, the number of getherial
spirits must needs be infinite : for if that be true that some of
our mathematicians say, that if a stone could fall from the
starry heaven, or eighth sphear, and should pass every hour an
hundred miles, it would be sixty-five years, or more, before it
would come to the ground, by reason of the great distance of
heaven from earth, which contains (as some say) one hundred;
and seventy millions eight hundred and three miles,— -besides
those other heavens, (whether they be crystalline or watery,
which Maginus adds) which perad venture hold as much more,
* Comment, in dial. Plat de amore, c. 5. Ut sphaera qnselibet super nos, ita pras-
stantiores habet habitatores suae sphaerse consortes, ut habet nostra. b Lib. de
anima et dsemone. Medii inter deos et homines, divina ad nos, et nostra asqualiter:
ad deos ferunt. c Saturninas et J oviales accolas. dIn loca detrusi sunt
infra coelestes orbes,-in aerem scilicet et.infra, ubi jtidicio generali reservantur.
65
Mem. 1. Subs. 2."] Nature of Devils.
— bow many such spirits may it contain ? And yet, for all
this a Thomas, Aibertus, and most, hold that there be far more
angels than devils.
Sublunary devils, and their kinds.'] But, be they more or
less, quod supra nos , nihil ad nos. Howsoever, as Martianus
foolishly supposeth, cetherii dcemones non cur ant res humanas ;
they care not for us, do not attend our actions, or loot for
us ; those aetherial spirits have other worlds to reign in, belike,
or business to follow. We are only now to speak in brief of
these sublunary spirits or devils. For the rest, our divines
determine that the devil hath no power over stars, or heavens.
b Carminibus ceelo possunt deducere lunam, &c. Those are
poetical fictions ; and that they can csistere aquam fuviis, et
vertere sidera retro , fyc. as Canidia in Horace, ’tis all false.
dThey are confined, until the day of judgement, to this sub¬
lunary world, and can work no further than the four elements,
and as God permits them. Wherefore, of these sublunary
devils, though others divide them otherwise according to their
several places and offices, Pselius makes six kinds, fiery,
aerial, terrestrial, watery, and subterranean devils, besides
those faires, satyrs, nymph, &c.
Fiery spirits or devils are such as commonly work by blazing
stars, firedrakes, or ignesfatui , which lead men often in flu-
mina, aut prcecipitia, saith Bodine (lib. 2. Theat. naturae,
fol. 221.) Quos, inquii, arcere si volunt viator es, clard voce
Deurn appellare, aut prona facie ierram contingente adorare
oportet : et hoc amuletummajoribusnostris acceptum ferre de-
bemus, Sj-c. Likewise they counterfeit suns and moons, stars
oftentimes, and sit on ship masts ; in navigiorum summitatibus
visuntur ; and are called Discuri (as Eusebius, l. contra Philo-
sophos, c. 48, informetk us, out of the authority of Zeno-
phanes) ; or little clouds, ad molurn nescio quern volarites ;
which neverappear, saith Cardan, but they signifie some mis¬
chief or other to come unto men, though some again will have
them to portend good, and victory to that side they come
towards in sea fights ; St. Elmes fires they commonly call them,
and they do likely appear after a sea storm. Badzivilius,
the Pelonian duke, calls this apparition Sancti Germani
sidus ; and saith moreover, that he saw the same after in a
storm, as he was sayling, 1582, from Alexandria to B-hodes.
Our stories are full of such apparations in all kinds. Some
think they keep their residence in that Hecla mountain in
* Q. 36. art 9. hVirg. 8. Ec. c iEn. 4. a Austin. Hoc dixi, ne
qais existimet habitare ibi mala daemonia, ubi solem et lunam et stellas Deus ordinvit.
Et alibi: nemo arbitraretur daemonem ccelis habitare cum angelis suis, unde lapsum
er-edimus. Id. Zanch. 1. 4. c. 3. de angel, malis. Pererius, in Gen. cap. 6. lib. 8. in
66
Digression of Spirits. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
Island, ./Etna in Sicily, Lipara, Vesuvius, &c. These devils
were worshipped heretofore by that superstitious wvpiutnsm,
and the like.
Aerial spirits or devils are such as keep quarter, most part,
in the a air, cause many tempests, thunder, and lightnings,
tear oaks, fire steeples, houses, strike men and beasts, make it
rain stones (as in Livies tinie), wooll, frogs, &c. counterfeit
armies in the air, strangenoises,svvords,&c.asatVienna before
the coming of the Turks, and many times in Rome, as Scheret-
zius, l. de sped. c. 1 part. 1. Lavater, de sped. part. I. e. 17,
Julius Obsequens, an old Roman, in his book of prodigies, ah
urb. cond. 505, b Maehiavel hath illustrated by many examples,
and Josephus in his book de bello Judiaco, before the destruction
of Jerusalem. Ail which Guil. Postallus (in his first book, c. 7.
de orbis concordia) useth as an effectual argument (as indeed
it is) to perswade them that will not believe there be spirits or
devils. They cause whirlwinds on a sudden, and tempestuous
storms ; which though our meteorologists generally refer to
natural causes, yet I am of Bodines mind ( Theat Nat. 1. 2.)
they are more often caused by those aerial devils, in their se¬
veral quarters ; for tempestatibus se ingerunt, saitb c Rich. Ar¬
gentine ; as when a desperate man makes away with himself,
which by hanging or drowning they frequently do, (as Korn-:
mannus observes, de mirac. mort. part. 7. c. 76) fripudium
agentes, dancing and rejoicing at the death of a sinner. These
can corrupt the air, and cause plagues, sickness, storms, ship¬
wrecks, fires, inundations. .AtMons Draconis in Italy, there is
a most memorable examplein dJovianus Pontanus :;and nothing
so familiar (if we may believe those relations of Saxo Gramma¬
ticus, Olaus Magnus, Baraianus A. Goes) as for witches and
sorcerers, in Lapland, Lithuania, and all over Scandia, to sell
winds to marriners, and cause tempests ; which Marcus Paul us
the Venetian relates likewise of the Tartars. These kind of
devils are much e delighted in sacrifices, (saith Porphyry)
held all the world in awe, and had several names, idols,
sacrifices in Rome, Greece, ./Egypt,. and at this day tyran¬
nize. over, and deceive, those Ethnicks and Indians, being
adored and worshipped for fgods: for the Gentiles gods
were devils (asA Trismegistus confesseth in his Asclepius;
and he himself could make them come to their images by
magick spells), and are now as much respected by our
a Domus dirunnt, muros, dejiciunt, immiscent se turbinibus elprocellis et pulverem
instar column® evehnnt. Cicogna. 1. 5. c. 5. - J Qusest. in' c De
prsestigiis dsemonum, c.,16. Convelli culmina videmus, prosterni sata, &c. dDe
bello Neapolitan/}, lib. 5. . e Suffitibu* gaiident. Idem Just. Mart. Apol. pro
Cbristianis. f In Dei imitationem, saitb Eusebius. s Dii gentium
daemonia, &c. ego in eorum statuas pellexi.
67
Memb. 1. Subs. 2.] Digression of Spirits.
papists (saith aPictorius) wider the name of saints. These
are they which, Cardan thinks, desire so much carnal copu¬
lation with witches Incubi and Succubi), transform bodies,
and are so very cold, if they be touched; and that serve
magicians. His father had one of them, (b as he is not
ashamed to relate) an aerial devil, bound to him for twenty
and eight years. As Agrippas dog bad a devil tyed to his col-
ler, some think that Paracelsus (or else Erastus belies him)
had one confined to his sword pummel; others wear them in
rings, &c. Jannes and Jambres did many things of old by
their help, Simon Magus, Cinops, Apollonius Tyaneus, Jam-
blicus, and Trithemius of late, that shewed Maximilian the
emperour his wife, after she was dead ; et verrucam in collo
ejus (saith c Godolman), so much as the wart in her neck.
Delrio, {lib. 2.) hath divers examples of their feats ; Cicogna,
lib. 3; cap. 3, and Wierus in his book de prcestig. dcemonnm,
Boissardus, de magis et vmeficis.
Wafer-devils are those naiades or water nymphs which have
been heretofore conversantabout waters and ri vers. The water
(as dBaracelsus thinks) is their chaos, wherein they li ve. Some
call them fairies, an d say that Habundia is their queen. These
cause inundations, many times shipwracks, and deceive men
divers wayes, as Succubce, or otherwise, appearing most part
(saith Trjthemius) in womens shapes. Paracelsus hath several
stories of them that have lived and been married to mortal
men, and so continued for certain years with them, and
after, upon some dislike, have forsaken them. Such a one
as Egeria, with whom Numa was so familiar, Diana, Ceres,
&c. e01aus Magnus hath a long narration of one Hotherus, a
king of Sweden, that, having lost his company as he was hunt¬
ing one day met with these water nymphs or fairies, and was
feasted by them; and Hector Boethius, of Macbeth and Banco,
two Scotish lords, that, as they were wanderinfg in woods, had
their fortunes told them by three strange women. To these
heretofore they did use to sacrifice, by that or divi¬
nation by waters.
Terrestrial devils are those * lares, genii, faunes, satyrs ,
g wood-nymphs, foliots, fairies, Robin Goodfellows, Tralli, fyc.
which as they are most conversant with men, so they do
them most harm. Some think it was they alone that kept the
heathen people in awe of old, and had so many idols and
* Et nunc sub divorum nomine coluntur a pontinciis. b Lib. 11. de rerum
var. c Lib. 3. cap. 3. de magis et veneficis, &c. d Lib. de Zilphis.
e lib. 3. f Pro salute hominum excubare se simulant; sed in eoram pemiciem
omnia moliuntur. Aust. s Dryades, Oriades, Hamadrvades.
68
Digression of Spirits. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
temples erected to them; Of this range was Dagon amongst
the Philistins, Bel amongst the Babylonians, Astartes amongst
the Sidonians, Baal amongst the Samaritans, Isis and Osiris
amongst the ^Egyptians, &c. Some put our a fairies into this
rank, which have been in former times adored with much su¬
perstition, with sweeping their houses, and setting of a pail of
clean water, good victuals, and the like; and then they should
not be pinched, but find money in their shoes, and be for¬
tunate in their enterprizes. These are they that dance on
heaths and greens, as b Lavater thinks with Trith'emitis, and,
as c Olaus Magnus adds, leave that green circle, which we
commonly find in plain fields, which others hold to proceed
from a meteor falling, or some accidental rankness of the
ground ; so nature sports herself. They are sometimes seen by.
old women and children. Hieron. Pauli, in his description
of the city of Bereino in Spain, relates how they have been
familiarly seen near that town, about fountains and hills : non-
nunquam (saith Trithemius) in sua latihula montmm simpli-
ciores homines ducunt, stupenda mir antibus ostendentes mira~
cula, molarum sonitus, spectacula , Sf-c. Giraldus Cambrensis
gives instance in a monk of Wales that was so deluded. ^Pa¬
racelsus reckons up many places in Germany, where they do
usually walk in little coats, some two foot long. A bigger
kind there is of them, called with ns hobgoblins, mid Robin
Goodfellows, that would in those superstitious times, grind
corn for a mess of milk, cut wood, or do any manner of
drudgery work. They would mend old irons in those JSolian
•isles of Lipara, in former ages, and have been often seen and
heard. eTho!osanus calls them Trullos and Getulos, and saith
that in his dayes they were common in many places of France.
Dithmarus Bleskenius, in his description of Island, reports for
acertainty, that almost in every family they have yet somesuch
familiar spirits; and Felix Malleolus, in his book de cr itdel.
daemon, affirms as much, that these Trolli , or Telchines, are
very common in Norway, f and seen to do drudgery work;
to draw water, saith Wierus, [lib 1. cap. 22.) dress meat, or
any such thing. Another sort of these there are, which fre¬
quent forlorn s houses, which the Italians call foliots, most
part innoxious, h Cardan holds : They will make strange
a Eivas Olaus vocat. lib. 3. b Part. 1. cap. 19. ' p Lib. 3. cap, 11. El-
varum choreas Oiaus lib. 3. vocal. Saltum adeo profunde in terras iinprimunt, ut
locos insigni deinceps virore orbicularis sit, et gramen non pereat. dLib. de
Zilpb. et Pygmaeis, Olaus, 1. 3. e Lib., 7. cap. 14. Qui et in famulitio viris et
feminis inserviunt, conclavia scopis purgant, patinas mimdant, ligha portanL equos
curant, &c. f Ad miaisteria utuntur. S Where treasure is hid (as some
think), or some murder, or such like villany committed. l> Lib. 16. de rerum
varietal. • >
Mena. 1. Subs. 2.] Digression of Spirits. 69
noises in the night, howl sometimes pitifully, and then
laugh again , cause great flames and sudden lights, fling stones ,
rattle chains , shave men, open doors, and shut them, fling
down platters, stools, chests, sometimes appear in the likenesse
of hares , crows, black dogs, $-c. of which read a Pet. Thyrseus
the Jesuit (in his Tract de locis infestis, part . 1 et cap. 4.)
who will have them to be devils, or the souls of damned
men that seek revenge, or else souls out of purgatory that
seek ease. For such examples, peruse b Sigismundus Scheret-
zius, lib. de spectris, part . 1. c. 1. which he saith he took out
of Luther most part ; there be many instances. cPIinius Secun-
dus remembers such a house at Athens, which Athenodorus
the philosopher hired, which no man durst inhabit for fear of
devils. Austin ( de Civ. Dei, lib. 22 cap. 8.) relates as much
of Hesperius the tribunes house at Zubeda near their city of
Hippo, vexed with evil spirits to his great hinderance ; cum
afflictione animalium et servorum suorum. Many such in¬
stances are to be read in Niderius, Formicar. lib . 5. cap. 12. 3,
%c. Whether I may call these Zim and Othim, which Isay
cap. 13. 21. speaks of, I make a doubt. See more of these
in the said Seheretz. lib. 1 . de sped. cap. 4 : he is full of ex¬
amples. These kind of devils many times appear to men
and affright them out of their wits,, sometimes walking at
d noon-day, sometimes at nights, counterfeiting dead mens
ghosts, as that of Caligula, which (saith Suetonius) was seen
to walk in Lavinias garden : where his body was buried, spirits
haunted, and the house where he dyed : e Nulla nox sine ter -
rore transacta, donee incendio consumpta ; every night this
hapned, there was no quietness, till the house was burned.
About Hecla in Island, ghosts commonly walk , animas mor-
tuorum simuUmtes, saith Jo. Anan. lib. 3. de nat. deem.
Olaus, lib. 2. cap. 2. Natal. Tallopid. lib. de apparit. spir.
Kormannus, de mirac.mort.part. 1. cap. 44. Such sights are
frequently seen circa sepulcra et monasteria, saith Lavat.
lib. 1. eap. 19. in monasteries and about church-yards, loca
paludinosa, ampla cediflda, solitaria, et ccede hominum no -
tata, 8fc. Thyreus adds, ubi gravius peccatum est commit-
sum, impii, pauperum oppressores, et nequiter insignes habi¬
tant. These spirits often foretell mens deaths, by several
signs, as knocking, groanings, See. though Rich. Argent
aVel spiritus sunt hujusmodi damnatorum, vel e purgatorio, vel ipsi daemones,
c. 4. b Quidam lemures domesticis instrumentis noctu ludunt : patinas, ollas,
cantharas, et alia vasa, dejiciunt ; et quidam voces emitted:, ejulant, risum emittunt,
&c. ut canes nigri, feles, variis formis, &c. c Epist 1. 7. ' d Meridionaies-
dsepaones Cicogna calls them, or Alastores, 1. .3. cap. 9. e Sueton. c. 69. in Ca¬
ligula. fStrozzius Cicogna, lib. 3. mag. cap. 5.
70 Digression of Spirits. [Part. 1. Sec. §.
tine, c. IS. de prcesfigiis dcemonum , will ascribe these pre¬
dictions to good angels, out of the authority of Ficinus and
others ; prodigia in obitu prtncipum scepius contingunt, Sfc. as,
in the Lateran church in a Rome, the popes deaths are fore¬
told by Sylvesters tomb. Near Rupes Nova in Finland, in the
kingdom of Sweden, there is a lake, in which, before the go-
vernour of the castles dyes, a spectrum, in the habit of Arion
with his harp, appears, and makes excellent musick, like those
blocks in Cheshire, which, (they say) presage death to the
master of the family ; or that b oak in, Lanthandran park in
Cornwall, which foreshews as much. Many families in Eu¬
rope are sopufc in mind of their last, by such, predictions, and -
many men are forewarned (if we may believe Paracelsus) by
familiar spirits, in divers shapes, as cocks, crows, owls, which
often hover about sick mens chambers, vel quia morientiwm
fceditatem sentiuni, as cBaracellus conjectures, et ideo super
tectum infirmorum crocitant, because they smell a corse ; or
for that (d Bernardinus de Bustis thinketh) God permits the
devil to> appear in the form of crows, and such like creatures,
to scare such as live wickedly here on earth. A little before
Tullies death, (saith Plutarch) the crows made a mighty noise
about him ; tumultuose perstrepentes, they pulled the pillow
from under his head. Rob. Gaguinus, hist. Franc, lib. 8.
telleth such another wonderful story at the death of Jo-,
hannes de Monteforti, a French lord, anno 1345. fanta
corvorum multitudo cedibus morientis insedit, quantum esse in
Gallia nemo judicdsset. Such prodigies are very frequent in
authors. See more of these in the said Lavater, Thyreus, de
locis infestis, part. 3. cap. 58, Pictorius, Delrio, Cicogna,
lib. 3. cap. 9. Necromancers take upon them to raise and lay
them at their pleasures ; and so likewise those which Mizal-
dus calls Jlmbulones, that walk about mEid night on great
heaths and desart places, which (saith e Lavater) draw men out
of the way , and lead them all night a by-way, or quite bar
them of their way. These have several names in several
places; we commonly call them pucks. In the desarts of
Lop in Asia, such illusions of walking spirits are often per¬
ceived, as you may read in M. Paulus the Venetian his travels.
If one lose his company by chance, these devils will call him
by his name, and counterfeit voices of his companions to
seduce him. Hieronym. Pauli, in his book of the hills of
a Idem. c. 18. ■ *>M. Cary. Survey of Cornwall, lib. 2. fol 140. c Horto
Geniali, fol. 137. d Part. 1. c. 19. Abducunt eos a recta via, et viam iter fa-
cientibus intercludunt. eLib 1. cap. 44. Dsemonum cermmtur et aridinnttir
ibi freqnentes illusiones ; unde viatoribus cavendum, ne se dissocient, aui a tergo
unmeant ; voces enim fingunt sociorum, nt a recto itinere abducant, &c. .
71
Mem. 1. Subs, 2.] Digression of Spirits.
Spain, relates of a great a mount in Cantabria, where such
spectrums are to be seen . Lavater and Cicogna have variety of
examples of spirits and walking devils in this kind. Some¬
times they sit by the high-way side,to give men falls, andmake
their horses stumble and start as they ride, (if you will believe
the relation of that holy man Ketellus, bin Nubrigensis,) that
had an especial grace to see devils, gratiam divinitus collatam,
and talk with them, et impavidus cum spiritibus sermonem
miscero, without offence : and if a man curse or spur his horse
for stumbling, they do heartily rejoyee at it ; with many such
pretty feats.
Subterranean devils are as common as the rest, and do as
much harm. Olaus Magnus (lib. 6. cap. 19.) makes six
kinds of them, some bigger, some less. These (saith b Mun¬
ster) are commonly seen about mines of metals, and are some
of them, noxious; some again do no harm. The metal-men
in many places account it good luck, a sign of treasure and rich
ore, when they see them. Georgius Agricola (in his book de
subterraneis animantibus, cap. 37) reckons two more notable
kinds of them, which he calls d Gcetuli and Cobali ; both are
cloathed after the manner of metal-men, and will many times
imitate their works. Their office, as Pietori'us and Paracelsus
think, is to keep treasure in the earth, that it be not all at once
revealed ; and, besides, e Cicogna averrs, that they are the
frequent causes of those horrible earth-quakes, which often
swallow up, not only houses but whole islands and cities: in
his third book, cap. 1 1 , he gives many instances.
The last are conversant about the center of the earth, to
torture the souls of damned men to the day of judgement.
Their egress and regress some suppose to be about iEtna,
Lipara, Mobs Hecla in Island, Vesuvius, Terra del Fuego, &c.
because many shreeks and fearful cryes are continually heard
thereabouts, and familiar apparitions of dead men, ghosts, and
goblins.
Their offices , operations , study.'] Thus the devil reigns, in a
thousand several shapes, as a roaring lyon , still seeks whom
he may devour , (1 Pet. 5.) by earth, sea, land, air, as
yet unconfined, though f some will have his proper place the
air— all that place betwixt us and the moon, for them that
aMons sterilis et nivosus, ubi intempesta nocte umbra apparent J> Lib. 2.
cap. 21. Offendicttla faciunt transeuutibus in via ; et petulanter rident, cum vel ho-
minem vel jumentum ejus pedes atterere faciant, et inaxime si homo maledictis et cal-
caribus saevita. _ cIh cosmogr. d Vestiti more metallicorum, gestos; et
opera eorum imitantur. e Immisso in terras oarceres vento, horribiles terras motus
efficiunt, quibus saepe non domus modo et torres, sed civitates integras et insulae,
haustee sunt. f Hieron. in 3 Ephes. Idem Michaelis c. 4. de spiritibus. Idem
Thyreus de locis infestis. _
VOL. 1 O
72
Digression of Spirits. [Part 1. Sec. 2.
transgressed the least, and hell for the wickedest of them ; Me
velut in carcere adfinem mundi, tunc in locum funestiorem
trudendi, as Austin holds, de Civit. Dei,.c. 22. lib. 14. cap. S.
et 23. But, be where he will, he rageth where he may ; to com¬
fort himself (as a Lactantius thinks) with other mens falls,
he labours all he can to bring them into the same pit of per¬
dition with him ; for b mens miseries , calamities, and mines
are the devils banqueting dishes. By many temptations and
several engines, he seeks to captivate our souls. The lord of
lyes, saith c Austin ; as he was deceived himself he seeks to
deceive others ; the ring-leader to all naughtiness ; as he did
by Eve and Gain, Sodom and Gomorrha, so would he do by
all the world. Sometimes he tempts by covetousness, drunk¬
enness, pleasure, pride, &c. errs, dejects, saves, kills, protects,
and rides some men, as they do their horses. He studies our
overthrow and generally seeks our destruction; and, al¬
though; he pretend many times humane good, and vindicate
himself for a god, by curing of several, diseases, eegris sanita-
tem, et ccecis luminis usum restituendo, (as Austin declares,
lib* 10. de civit. Dei , cap. 6>) as Apollo, iEsculapius, Isis, of
old have done ; divert plagues, assist them in wars, pretend
their happiness ; yet nihil his impurius , scelestius, nihil hu¬
mane generi infestius ; nothing so impure, nothing so perni¬
cious, as may well appear by their tyrannical and bloody sa¬
crifices of men to Saturn and Moloch (which are still in use
amongst those barbarous Indians), their several deceits and
cozenings to keep men in obedience, their false oracles, sacri¬
fices, their superstitious impositions of fasts, penury, &c.
heresies, superstitions, observations of meats, times, &c. by
which, they dcrucifie the souls of mortal men, as shall be
* shewed in our treatise of religious melancholy. Modico adhuc
tempore sinitur malignari, as e Bernard expresseth it : by
Gods permission he rageth a while, hereafter to be confined to
a Lactantius, 2 de origine erroris, cap. 15. Hi maligni spiritus per omnem terrain
vagantur, et solatium perditionis suae perdendis hominibus operantur. b Morta-
lium calamitates epulae suntmalorum daemonum. Synesius. cDominus men-
dacii, a seipso deceptus, alios decipere cupit. AdversariuS humani generis. Inventor
mortis, superbias institutor, radix maliti®, scelerum caput, princeps omnium, vitiorum,
furit inde in Dei contumeliam, hominum perniciem. De horum conatibus et opera-
tionibus, lege Epiphanium, 2 tom. lib. 2. Dionysium, c. 4. Ambros. Epistol. lib. 10.
ep. 84. August, de civ. Dei, lib 5. c.9. lib. 8. cap. 22. lib. 9. 18. lib. 10. 21.
Tbeophil. in 12. Mat. Pasil. ep. 141. Leonem Ser. Theodoret. in 11 Cor. ep. 22.
Chrys. hom. 53. in 12. Gen. Greg, in 1. c. John Barthpl. de prop. 1. 2. c. 20.
Zanch. 1. 4. de malis angelis. Perer. in Gen. 1. 8. in c. 6. 2. Origen- Saepe prceliis
intersunt ; itinera et negotia nostra qu»cunque dirigunt, clandestinis subsidiis optatos
saepe prsebent successus. Pet. Mar. in Sam., &c. Ruscam.de Inferno. d Et
velut mancipia circumfert. Psellus. e Lib. de transmut. Malac. ep.
73
Mem. 1. Subs. 2.]] Digression of Spirits.
hell and darkness, which is prepared for him and his angels
Matt. 25.
How far their power doth extend, it is hard to determine.
What the ancients held of. their effects, force, and operations,
I will briefly show you. Plato, in Critias, and after him, his
followers, gave out that these spirits or devils were mens go -
vernours and keepers, our lords and masters, as we are of our
cattle. a They govern provinces and kingdoms hy oracles',
auguries, dreams, rewards and punishments, prophesies, in¬
spirations, sacrifices, and religious superstitions, varied in as
many forms, as there be diversity of spirits : they send wars,
plagues, peace, sickness, health, dearth, plenty, badstantes
hie jam nobis, spectantes et arbitr antes, $*c. (as appears by
those histories of Thucydides, Livius, Dionysius Halicarnas-
seus, with many others, that are full of their wonderful stra¬
tagems) and were therefore, by those Roman and Greek com¬
mon-wealths, adored and worshipped for gods, with prayers,
and sacrifices, &c. c In a word, hihil magis queer unt, quam
metum et admirationem hominum ; and (as another hath it)
did non potest, quam impotenti ardore in homines dominium ,
et divinos cultus, maligni spiritus affectent. Trithemius in
his book de septem secundis, assigns names to such angels as
are go vernours of particular provinces (by what authority I
know not), and gives tbemseveral jurisdictions. Asclepiades a
Grecian, Rabbi Achiba the Jew, Abraham Avehezra,aUd Rabbi
Azareel, Arabians, (as I find them cited by d Cicogtta) farther
add,- that they are not our governours only, sed ex eorum
concordia et discordid , bonlet mali ajfectus promanant ; but as
they agree, so do we and our princes, or disagree ; stand dr
fall. Juno was a bitter enemy to Troy, Apollo a good friend,
Jupiter indifferent : JEqua Venus Teucris, Pallas iniqua fuii;
some are for us, still some against us ; premente Deo,fert Deus
alter opem. Religion, policy, publick and private quarrels,
wars, are procured by them ; ana they are e delighted perhaps
to see men fight, as men are with cocks, bulls and dogs, bears,
&c. Plagues, dearths, depend on them, our bene and male
esse, and almost all our other peculiar actions, (for, as Anthony
Rusca contends, lib. 5. cap. 18, every man hath a good and
a bad angel attending of him in particular, all his life long,
which Jamblicus calls dceynonem) preferments, losses, weddings,
deaths, rewards, and punishments, and (as f Proclus will
all offices whatsoever: alii genetricem, alii opifeem potes-
a Custodes sunt hominum, ut nos atiimalium : turn et provineiis prsepositi regunt
auguriis, somniis, oraculis, prsemiis, &c. b Lipsins, Physiol. Stoic, lib. 1. cap. 19.
cLeo Suavis, Idem et Trithemius. d Omnif. mag. lib. 2. cap. 23. . e Ludus
deorum sumus, f Lib. de anima et dsemone.
o 2
74 Digression of Spir its. [Part l. See. %
ttttern habent, $-e. and several names they give them ac¬
cording to their offices, as Lares, Indigetes, Prcestites, §-c.
When the Arcades, in that battel at Chaeronea, which was
fought against King Philip for the liberty of Greece, had deceit-
folly carried themselves,— long after, in the very same place,
diis Grceciceultoribus, (saith mine author) they were miserably
slain by Metellus the Roman : so likewise, in smaller matters,
they will have things fall out, as these boni and malt genii
favour or dislike us. Saturnini non conveniunt Jovialibus, fyc.
He that is Saturninus, shall never likely be preferred. aThat
base fellows are often advanced, undeserving Gnathoes, and
vicious parasites, when as discreet, wise, vertuous, and worthy
men are neglected, and unrewarded,they refer to those domi¬
neering spirits, or subordinate genii : as they are inclined, or fa¬
vour men, so they thrive, are ruled and overcome ; for, (as :bLiba-
nius supposeth) in our ordinary conflicts and contentions yge-
nius genio cedit et obtemperat, one genius yields and is overcome
by another. All particular events almost they refer to these
private spirits; and (as Paracelsus adds) they direct, teach, in¬
spire, and instruct men. Never was any man extraordinarily
famous in any art, action, or great commander, that bad not
familiarem dcemonem, to inform him, as Numa, Socrates,
and many such, as Cardan illustrates, cap. 128- Arcanis pru¬
dential civilis, c speciali siquidem gratia, se a Deo donor i as-
serunt magi, a geniis ceelestibus instrui, ab Us doceri. But
these are most erroneous paradoxes, ineptce etfahujosce nitgce,
rejected, by our divines and Christian churches. ‘ ’Tis true,
they have, by Gods permission, power over us ; , and we find
by experience, that they can d hurt, not our fields only, cattel,
goods, but our bodies, and minds. At Hammel in Saxony,
an. 1484. 20 Junii, the devil, in the likeness of a pied piper,
carryed away 130 children, that were never after seen. Many
times men are e affrighted out of their wits, carried away
quite (as Scheretzius illustrates, lib. 1. c. 4.) and severally mo¬
lested by his means. Plotinus the Platonist (lib. 14. advers.
Gnosti) laughs them to scorn, that hold the devil or spirits can
cause any such diseases. Many think he can work upon
a Quoties fit, ut principes novitium aulicnm divitiis et dignitatibus pene. obraant,
et multOrum annorum ministrum, qui non semel pro hero periculum subiit, ne te-
runcio donent, &c. Idem. Quod philosoghi non remunerenter, cum scurra et in-
eptus ob insulsnm jocum saspe praemium reportet, inde fit, &c. b Lib.de
cruent. cadaver. e Boissardus, c. 6. magia. d Godelmannus, cap. 3.
lib. 1. de Magis. idem Zanchius, lib. 4. cap. 10 et 11. de malis angelis. eNo-
civa melancholia furiosos efficit, et.quandoque penitus interficit. G. Picolomineus ;
idemque Zanch. cap. 10. lib. 4. Si Deus permittat, corpora nostra movere possunt, al-
terare,. quoyis morborum et malorum genere afiicere, imo et in ipsa penetrare et
75
Mem. 1. Subs. 2.] Digression of Spirits.
the body, but not upon the mind. But experience pronoanceth
otherwise, than he can workboth upon body and mind. Tertul-
iian is of this opinion (c. 22.) a that he can cause both sickness
and health , and that secretly. b Taurellus adds, by clancular
poysons he can infect the bodies, and hinder the operations
of the bowels, though we perceive it not ; closely creeping into
them , saith c Lipsius, and so erucifie our sou is; et nociva melan¬
cholia furiosos efficit. For, being a spiritual body, he struggles
with our spirits, saith Rogers, and suggests (according to
d Cardan, verba sine voce, species sine visit) envy, lust, anger,
&c. as he sees men inclined.
The manner how he performs it, Biarmannus, in his oration
against Bodine, sufficiently declares. He* begins first with
the phantasie, and moves that so strongly, that no reason is
able to resist. Now the phantasie he moves by mediation of
humours; although many physicians are of opinion, that the
devil can alter the mind, and produce this disease, of himself.
Quibusdarri medicorum visum, saith f Avicenna, quod melan¬
cholia canting at a deemonio. Of the same mind is Psellus,
and Rhasis, the Arab, {lib. 1. Tract. 9- Conti) s that this
disease proceeds especially from the devil,, and from him
alone. Arculanus, cap. 6. in. 9. Rhasis , fE nanus Mental tus
in his 9 cap. Daniel Sennertus, lib. I. part. cap. 11, eon-
firm as much, that the devil can cause this disease ; by reason,
many times, that the parties afFecte'd prophesie, speak strange
language, but non sine interventu humoris, not without the
humour* as he interprets himself; no more doth Avicenna: si
contingat a deemonio, sufficit nobis ut convertat complexibnem
ad choler amnigr am, et sit cdussa ejus propinqud cholera nigra ;
the immediate cause is choler adust; which h Pomponatius like¬
wise labours to make good : Galgerandus of Mantua, a famous
physician, so cured a dssmoniaeal women in his time, that
spake all languages, by purging black choler : and thereupon,
belike, this humour of melancholy is called balneum diaboli,
the devils bath ; the devil, spying his opportunity of such.hu-
mours, drives them many times to despair, fury, rage, &c.
mingling himself amongst these humours. This is that which
Tertullian averrs, corporihits injligunt acerbos casus, animeeque
a Inducere potest morbos et sanitates. b Viscerum actiones potest inhibere
latenter, et venenis nobis ignotis corpus inficere. c Irrepentes corporibus oc
culto morbos fingunt, mentes terrent, membra distorquent. Lips. Phys. Stoic. 1. 1.
c. 19. d De rerum var. 1. 16. c. 93. e Quum mens immediate de-
cipi nequit, primum movet phantasiam, et ita obfirmat vanis conceptibus. ut ne-
quem facultati sestimativse, ratiohive locum relinquat. Spiritus. mains invadit animam,
turbat senses, in furorem conjicit. Austin, de vit. beat. f Lib. 3. Fen. 1.
Tract. 4 c. 18. £ A dsemone maxime profieisci, et ssepe solo. “Lib. da
incant, j .
76 Digression of Spirits. [Part. 1. Sec, 2.
repentinos ; membra distorquent, occulterepentes, Sfc. and, which
Lemnius goes about to prove, immiscent se mali genii gravis
humoribus, atque atrce bili, Sfc. and a Jason Pratensis, that the
devil, being a slender incomprehensible spirit, can easily insi¬
nuate and wind himself into humane bodies, anfi cunningly
couched in our bowels, vitiate our healths, terrifte our souls
with fearful dreams, and shake our mind with Juries, And in
another place, These unclean spirits settled in our bodies, and
now mixt with our melancholy humours, do triumph, as it were,
and sport themselves as in another heaven. Thus he argues,
and that they go in and out of our bodies, as bees do in a hive,
and so provoke and temptus, as they perceive our temperature
inclined of itself, and most apt to be deluded. b Agrippa and
Lavater are perswaded that this humour invites the devil to it,
wheresoe ver it is in extremity ; and, of all other, melancholy
persons are most subj ect to diabolical temptations and illusions,
and most apt to entertain them, and the devil best able to work
upon them but, whether by obsession or possession, or other¬
wise, I will not determine ; ’tis a difficult question. I)elrio
the Jesuite, (tom. 3. lib. 6) Springer and his colleague, (mall,
malef ) Pet. Thyreus the Jesuite, (lib. de dcemoniacis, de locis
infestis, de terrificationibus nocturnis) Hieronymus Mengus
(jFlagel. duem.) and others of that rank of pontifical writers,
it seems, by their exorcisms and conjurations, approve of it,
having forged many stories to that purpose. A nun did eat a
lettice d without grace , or sighing it with the sign of the cross,
and was instantly possessed. Durand, lib. 6. Rational, c. 86.
num. 8) relates that he saw a wench possessed in Bononia with
two devils, by eating an unhallowed pomegranate, as she did
afterwards confess, when she was cured by exorcisms. And
therefore our papists do sign themsel ves so often with the sign
of the cross, Me daemon ingredi ausit , and exorcise all manner
of meats, as being unclean or accursed otherwise, as Bellar-
mine defends. Many such stories I find amongst ponlificial
writers, dto prove their assertions; let them free their own
credits : some few I will recite in this kind out of most ap¬
proved physicians. Cornelius Gemma (lib. 2. de not. mirac.
e. 4) relates of a young maid, called Katherine Gualter, a
coopers daughter,an. 1571, that had such strange passions and
convulsions, three men could not sometimes hold her. She
purged a live eele, which he saw, a foot and a half long and,
a Cap, de mania, lib. de morbis eerebri. JDaemones, quum sint tenues et incompre-
kensibiles spiritus, se insinuare corporibus humanis possunt, et occult in visceribus
operti, valetadinem vitiare, somniis animas terrere, et mentes furoribus quatere. Insi-
nuant se melancholicoram penetralibusintus, ibique considunt et deliciantur, tamquam
in regione clarissimorum siderum, coguntque animum fiirere.' b Lib. 1 . cap. 6.
occult, philos. part. 1. cap. 1. de spectris. c Sine cruce et sanctificatione ; sic a
deemone obsessa. dial. d Greg. pag. c. 9.
77
Mem. 1. Subs. 2.] Causes of Melancholy .
touched himself ; but the eele afterwards vanished : she vo¬
mited some twenty- four pounds of fulsome stuff of all colours,
twice a day for fourteen dayes; and,after that, she voided great
balls of hair, pieces of wood, pigeons dung, parchment, goose
dung, coals ; and, after them, two pound of pure blood, and
then again coals and stones (of which some had inscriptions)
bigger than a walnut, some of them pieces of glass, brass, &c.
besides paroxysmes oflaughing, weeping, and extasies, &c. Et
hoc ( inquit ) cum horrore vidi , this I saw with horrour. They
could do no good on her by physick, but left her to the clergy.
Marcellus Donatus lib. 2. c. 1. de med dirab.) hath such
another story of a countrey fellow, that had four knives in his
belly, instar serrce dentatos, indented like a saw, every one a
span long, and a wreath of hair like a globe, with much bag¬
gage of like sort, wonderful to behold. How it should come
into his guts, he concludes, certe non alio quam dcemonis as~
tutia et dolo. Langius (Epist. med. lib. 1 . Epist. 38 ) hath
many relations to this effect, and so hath Christoph erus a Vega.
Wierus, Skenkius, Scribanius, all agree that they are done by
the subtilty and illusion of the devil. If you shall ask a rea¬
son of this, ’tis to exercise our patience ; for as aTertullian
holds, Virfus non est virtus, nisi comparem habet aliquem ,
in quo superando vim suam ostendat ; Tis to try us and our
faith ; ’tis for our offences, and the punishment of our sins,
by Gods permission they do it ; carnifices vindictoe jusics Dei,
as b Tolosanus stiles them, executioners of his will : or rather
as David Psal. 78. ver. 49. He cast upon them the fierce -
ness of his anger, indignation, wrath, and vexation, by send¬
ing out of evil angels . So did he afflict Job, Saul, the lunaticks
and demoniacal persons whom Christ cured, Matth. 4. 8.
Luke 4. 11. Luke 13. Mark 9. Tobit 8. 3, &e. This, I
say, happeneth for a punishment of sin, for their want of faith,
incredulity, weakness, distrust, &c.
SUBSECT. III.
Of Witches and Magicians, how they cause Melancholy.
You have heard what the devil can do of himself: now
you shall hear what he can perform by his instruments, who
are many times worse (if it be possible) than he himself, and
to satisfie their revenge and lust, cause more mischief; multa
a Penult, de opific. Dei.
b Lib. 28. cap. 26. Tom. 2.
78
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
enim mala non egisset daemon, nisi provocatus a sagis, as
a Erastus thinks : much harm had never been done, had he not
been provoked by witches to it. He had not appeared in Sa~
muels shape, if the witch of Endor had left him alone; or re¬
presented those serpents in Pharaohs presence, had not the ma¬
gicians urged him unto it : nee morbosvel hominibus vel brutis
injligeret , (Erastus maintains) si sagoe quiescefent ; men and
cattle might go free, ifthe witches would let him alone. Many
deny witches at all, or, if there be any, they can do no harm.
Of this opinion is Wierus, (lib. 3. cap. 53. prcestig. deem.)
Austin Lerckemer a Dutch writer, Biarmannus, Ewichius,
[Euwaldus, our countryman Scot : with him in Horace,
Sonoma tenures magicos, miracula, sagas,
. Nocturnos lemures, portentaque Thessala, risu
Excipimit — — •-
they laugh at all such stories: but on the contrary are most
lawyers, divines, physicians, philosophers, Austin, Hermingius,
Danseus, ChytrsBUS, Zanchius, Aretius, &c. Delrio, Springer,'
bNiderius, (lib. 5. Formicar.) Cuiatius, Bartolus, (consil. 6.
tom. l.) Bodine, (deemoniant. lib. 2. cap. 8) Godelman, Dam-
hoderius, &c. Paracelsus, Erastus, Scribanius, Camerarius,&c.
The parties by whom the devil deals, may be reduced to these
two — such as command him, in shew at least, as conjurers,
and magicians, (whose detestable and horrid mysteries are
contained in their book called c Arbatcll ; dosmones enim ad-
vocati preesto sunt, seque exOrcismis et conjurationibus quasi
cogi patiuntur , ut miserum magorum genus in impietate deti-
neant,) or such as are commanded, as witches, that deal ex
parte implicite or explicite, as the d King hath well defined.
Many subdivisions there are, and many several species of sor¬
cerers, witches, in chanters, charmers, &e. They have been
tolerated heretofore, some of them ; and magiek hath been
publickly professed in formertimes, in eSalamanca,f Cracovia,
and other places, though after censured by several s univer¬
sities, and now generally contradicted, though practised by
some still, maintained and excused, tamquamres secreta, quae
non nisi v iris magnis et peculiari beneficio de ccelo instructis
communicatur (I use hBoissardus his words) ; and so far ap¬
proved by some princes, ut nihil ausi aggredi in politick.
a De lamiis. h Et quomodo venefici fiant, enarrat. cDe quo plura
legas, in Boissardo, Kb. 1. de prasstig. dRex Jacobus, Dasmonol. 1. 1. c. 3.
e An university in Spain, in old Castile. ’ _ f The chief town in Poland..
% Oxford and Paris. See finem P. Lumbardi. ^ h Praefat. de magis et vene-
fiejs, lib. ;
79
Mem. I. Sabs. 3.] Causes of Melancholy.
in mcris, in consiliis, sine eorum arhitrio ; they consult still
with them, and dare indeed do nothing1 without their advice.
Nero and Heliogabalus, Maxentius, and Julianus Apostata,
were never so much addicted to magick of old, as some of
our modern princes and popes themselves are now adayes.
Erricus, king of Sweden, had an a inchanted cap, by vertue
of which, and some magical murmur or whispering terms, be
could command spirits, trouble the ayre, and make the wind
stand which way he would ; insomuch that, when there was
any great wind or storm, the common people were wont to
say, the king now had on his conjuring cap. But such exam¬
ples are infinite. That which they can do, is as much almost as
the deyil himself, who is still ready; to satisfie their desires,
to oblige them the more unto him. They can cause tempests,
storms; which is familiarly practised by witches in Norway,
Island, as I have proved- They can make friends enemies, and
enemies friends, by philters ; b turpes amoves conciliate, en¬
force love, tell any man where his friends are, about what em¬
ployed, though in the most remote places ; and, if they will,
* bring their sweethearts to them by night, upon a goats back
flying in the ayre , (Sigismund Seheretzius, part. 1. cap. 9- de
sped, reports confidently, that he conferred with sundry such,
that had been socarried many miles, arid that he heard witches
themselves confess as much) hurt, and infect men and beasts,
vines, corn, cattle, plants, make women abortive, not to con¬
ceive, d barren men and women unapt and unable, married
and unmarried, fifty several ways, (saith Bodine,/. 2. c. 2.) fiye
in the ayre, meet when and where they will, as Cicogna proves,
and (Lavat. de spec. part. 2. c. 17.) steal young children out of
their cradles , ministerio dsemonum, and put deformed in their
rooms, which we call changelings , (saith e Seheretzius, part 1,
c. 6) make men victorious, fortunate, eloquent : (and there¬
fore in those ancient monomachies and combats, they were
searched of old, f if they had no magical charms) they can
make s stick-frees, such as shall endure a rapiers point, mus¬
ket shot, and never be wounded ; (of which read more in Bois -
sardus, cap. '6. de Magia, the manner of the adjuration, and
by whom ’tis made, where and how to be used in expeditionihus
bellicis, preeliis, duellis, &c. with many peculiar instances and
examples) they can walk in fiery furnaces, make men feel
aB,otatum pileum habebat, quo ventos violentos cieret, aerem tnrbaret, et in qnans
partem, &c. bErastns. c Ministerio hirci nocturni. dSteriles
nuptos et inhabiles. Vide Petram de Palude, lib. 4. distinct 34. Paulum Guiclandum,
e Infantes matribus snffarantur; aliis snppositivis in locum verorum conjectis,
fMilles. eD. Luther, in primum prseceptum, et Leon. Varins, iib. de
fascino.
so
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
no pain on the rack, aut alias torturas sentire ; they can
stanch blood, Represent dead mens shapes, alter and turn
themselves and others into several forms at their pleasures.1*
Agaberta, a famous witch in Lapland, would do as much
publickly to all spectatours — mo do pusilla, modo anus, modo
proeera ut quercus, modo vacca, avis, coluber, %-c. now
young, now old, high, low, like a cow, like a bird, a snake,
and what not ? She could represent to others what forms they
. most desired to see, shew them friends absent, reveal secrets,
maxima omnium admiratione, &c. And yet, for all this sub til ty
of theirs, (as Lipsius well observes ,Physiolog. Stdicor.lib. 1.
cap 17.) neither these magicians, nor devils themselves, can
take away gold orletters out of mine or Crassus chest, et cEen~
telis , suis largiri; for they are base, poor, contemptible fellows,
most part : as 0 Bodine notes, they can do nothing in judicum
deer eta aut.pcenas, in regum consilia vel arcana, nihil in rent
nummariam aut thesauros ; they cannot give money to their
clients, alter judges decrees, or counsels of kings : these minuti
genii cannot do it : altiores genii hoc sibi adservdrunt ; the
higher powers reserve these things to themselves. Now and
then, perad venture, th ere may be some more famous magicians,
(like Simon Magus, d A ppollonius Tyaneus, Pastes, Jamblicus,
e Odo de Stellis) that for a time can build castles in the ayre,
represent armies, See. (as they are fsaid to have done) com¬
mand wealth and treasure, feed thousands with all variety of
meats upon a sudden, protect themselves and their followers
from all princes persecutions, by removing from place to place
in an instant, reveal secrets, future events, tell what is done in
far countries, make them appear that dyed long since, &c. and
do many such miracles, to the worlds terrour, admiration,
and opinion of deity to themselves8: yet the devil forsakes
them at last ; they came to wicked ends ; and raro aut nun -
quam such impostors are to be found11. The vulgar sort of
them can work no such feats. But to my purpose^— they can,
last of all, cure and cause most diseases to such as they love
or hate, and this of 1 mel ancholy amongst the rest Paracelsus
(tom. 4. demorbis amentium, tract. 1.) in express words affirms,
mtilti fascinantur in melancholiam ; many are bewitched into
melancholy, out of his experience. The same saith Danaeus,
lib. 3. de sortiariis. Vidi, inquit, qui melancholicos morbos
a Lavat. Cicog. bBoissardus, de Magis. - « Daemon, lib, 3. c. 3.
dVide Philostratum, vita ejus; Boissardum de Magis. eNnbrigensis. Lege
lib. 1. cap. 19. fVide Suidam de Paset s De ernent. cadaver. hErastas,
Adolphns, Scribanins. _ sVirg. iEneid. 4. incantatricem describens;
Haec se carminibus promittit solvere mentes, Quas velit, ast aliis duras iiuittere
coras.
81
Mem. 1. Subs. 4.] Causes of Melancholy,
gravissimos induxerunt : I have seen those that have caused
melancholy in the. most grievous manner, &dryed up womens
paps, cured gout, palsie; this and apoplexy, falling -sickness,
which no physick could help, solo tactu, by touch alone. Ru-
land (in his 3. Cent. Cura 9 1 .) gives an instance of one Da vid
Helde, a young man, who, by eating cakes which a witch
gave him, mox delirare ccepit, began to dote on a sudden,
and was instantly mad. F. H. D. in bHildesheim, consulted
about a melancholy man, thought his disease was partly ma¬
gical, and partly natural, because he vomited pieces of iron
and lead, and spake such languages as he had never been
taught; but such examples are common in Scribanius, Her¬
cules de Saxonia, and others. The means by which they work,
are usually charms, images, (as that, in Hector Boethius, of
king Buffe characters stamped of sundry metals, and at such
and such constellations, knots, amulets, words, philters, &c.
which generally make the parties affected, melancholy; as
c Monavius discourseth at large in an epistle of his to Acolsius,
giving instance in a Bohemian barron that was so troubled
by a philter taken. Not that there is any power at all in those
spells, charms, characters, and barbarous words ; but that
the devil doth use such means to delude them; ut fi deles
inde magos { saith d Libanius) in officio reiineat^ turn in con¬
sortium malefactorum vocet.
SUBSECT. IV.
Stars a cause. Signs from Physiognomy , Metoposcopy,
Chiromancy.
Natural causes are either primary and universal, ^or secun-
dary and more particular. Primary causes are the heavens,
planets, stars, &c. by their influence (as our astrologers hold)
producing this and such like effects. 1. will not here stand
to discuss, obiter, whether stars be causes or signs ; or to
apologise for judicial astrology. If either Sextus Empiricus,
Picus Mirandula, Sextus ab Heminga, Pererius, Erastus, Cham¬
bers, &<c. have so far prevailed with any man, that he will
-attribute no vertue at all to the heavens, or to sun or moon.
a Godelmanuus, cap. 7. lib. 1. Nutricum mammas praesiccant ; solo tactu podagram,
apoplexiam, paralysin. et alios morbos, quos medicina curare non poterat b Factus
inde maniacus. Spic. 2. fol. 147. c Omnia philtra, etsi inter se differant, hoc
habent commune, quod hominem efficiaut melancholicum. epist. 231. ScHoltzii.
4 De cruent. cadaver.
82 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. I . See. 2.
more than he doth to their signs at an inn-keepers post, or
tradesmans shop, or generally condemn all such astrological
aphorisms approved by experience — I refer him to Bellan-
tius,Pirovanus,MarascalIerus,GocIenius, Sir Christopher Hey-
don, &c. If thou shalt ask me what I think, I must answer,
( nam et doctis hisce erroribus versatus sum) they dp incline
hut not compel!, (no necessity at all : *agunt non eoguni)
and so gently incline, that a wise man may resist them ; sa¬
piens dominabitur astris: they rule us ; but God rules them.
AH this (me thinks) bJoh, de Indagine hath comprized in
brief: quceris a me quantum in nobis operantur astra? 8fc.
Wilt thou know how far the stars work upon us? I say they do
but incline , and that so gently, that % if we will be Tided by
reason, they have no power over us ; but if we follow our own
nature, ana he led by sense, they, do as much in us, as in brute
beasts; and we are no better: so that, I hope, I may justly con¬
clude with c C aj et an, Ccelum vehiculum divines virtutis, fyc. that
the heaven is Gods instrument, by mediation of which he go¬
verns and disposed! these elementary bodies —or a great book,
whose letters are the stars, (as one calls it) wherein are writ¬
ten many strange things for such as can read — d or an. excel¬
lent harp, made by an eminent workman, on which he that can
but play, will make most admirable musick. But to the pur¬
pose —
e Paracelsus is of opinion, that a physician, without the
knowledge of stars, can neither understand the cause or cure
of any disease— either of this, or gout, not so much as tooth¬
ache— except he see the peculiar geniture and scheme of the
party affected. And for this proper malady, he will have the
principal and primary cause of it proceed from the heaven,
ascribing more to stars than humours, f and that the constel¬
lation alone, many times, produceth melancholy , all other
causes set apart. Hegives instance inlunatick persons, that are
deprived of their wits by the moons motion ; and, in another
place, refers all to the ascendent, and will have the true and
chief cause of it to be sought from the stars. Neither is it his
opinion only, but of many Galenists and philosophers, though
a Astra regunt homines ; et regit astra Dens. Chorom. lib. Quseris a me
quantum operantur astra ? dico, in nos nihil astr urgere, sed animos proolives trahere;
qui sic tamen liberi sunt, ut, si ducem seqnantur rationem, nihil efficiant; sin vero na-
turam id agere quod in brutis fere. c Coelum vehiculum divinse virtutis, cujus .
mediante motu, lumine, et influentia, Deus elementaria corpora ordinat, et disponit.
Th. de Veio. Cajetanus in Psa. 104. dMundus iste quasi lyra ab excellentissimo
quodam artifice concinnata, quam qui norit, mirabiles elicietharmonias. J. Dee. Apho-
rismo 11. e Medicos, sine cosli peritia nihil est, &e. nisi genesim sciverit, ne
tantillum poterit. lib. de podag. fConstellatio in caussa est: et influentia'pceli
morbum hunc movet, interdum omnibus aliis amotis. Et alibi. Origo ejas a coelo
petenda est. Tr. de morbis amentium.
S3
Mem. 1 . Subs. 4.] Causes of Melancholy.
they not so stilly and peremptorily maintain as much. This va¬
riety of melancholy symptomes proceeds from the stars, saitb
aMelancthon, Themost generous melancholy (as that of Au¬
gustus) comes from the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in
Libra; the bad, (as that of Catiline) from the meeting of
Saturn and the moon in Scorpio. Jovianus Pontanus, in his
tenth book, and thirteenth chapter de rebus ccelestibus , dis-
courseth to this purpose at large. Ex atra bile varii gene-
rantur morbi , fyc. b Many diseases proceed from black
choler, as it shall be hot or cold; and though it be cold in its .
own nature , yet it is apt to be heated, as water may be made
to boyle, and burn as bad as fire ; or made cold as ice ; and
thence proceed such variety of symptomes : some mad, some
solitary ; some laugh, some rage, <§fe. — the cause of all
which intemperance he will have chiefly and primarily pro¬
ceed from the heavens — cfrom the position of Mars, Saturn,
and Mercury. His. aphorisms be these: d Mercury in any
geniture, if he shall be found in Virgo, or Pisces his opposite
sign, and that in the horoscope , irradiated by those quartile
aspects of Saturn or Mars , the child shall be mad or melan¬
choly. Again, e He that, shall have. Saturn or Mars, the one
culminating, the other in the fourth house, when he shall be
born, shall be melancholy ; of which he shall be cured in
time, if Mercury behold them. f If the moon he in conjunc¬
tion or opposition, at the birth-time, with the sun, Saturn, or
Mars, or in a quartile aspect with them (e malo cceli loco,
Leovitius adds) many diseases are signified ; especially the
head and brain is like to be mis-qffected with pernicious hu¬
mours, to be melancholy, lunatick, or mad. Cardan adds,
quarta lund natos, eclipses, earth-quakes. Garcaeus and Leo¬
vitius will have the chief judgement to be taken from the lord
of the geniture ; or when there is no aspect betwixt the moon
and Mercury, and neither behold the horoscope, or Saturn
and Mars shall be lord of the present conjunction or oppo-
sition in Sagittary or Pisces, of the sun or moon, such per¬
sons are commonly epileptick, dote, dasmoniacal, melancholy
Z* Lib. de anima, cap, de humorib. Ea varietas in melancholia habet ccelestes
caassas Tj et !{. in □ J $ et 5 in ftp b Ex atra bile varii generantur
morbi, perinde nt ipse multum calidi ant frigid! in se habuerit, qunm utriqne suscipi-
endo quam aptissima sit, tametsi suapte natura frigida sit. Annon aqua sic afficitur
a calore ut ardeat ; et a frigore ut in glaciem concrescat? et hsec varietas distinctio-
- num, alii flent, rident, &c. c Hanc ad intemperantiam gignendam plurimum
Gonfert $ et fj positus, &c. d <ji Quoties alicujus genitura in TlX et >£ ad-
verso signo positus, horoscopum partiliter tenuerit, atque etiam a $ vel Jj □ radio
percussus fuerit, natus ab insania vexabitur. e Qui J, et $ babet, .alteram in
cuimine, alteram- imp coelo, cum in lucem venerit, melancholicus erit, a qua sanabi-
tur,si § illos irradiarit. fHac configiiratione natus, aut lunaticus, aut mente
eaptus.
84
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1 . Sec.
But see more of these aphorisms in the above-named Ponta-
nus, Garcssus, cap . 23. de Jud genitur . Schoner. lib, 1. cap.
8. which he hath gathered out of a Ptolemy, Albubater, and
some other Arabians, Junetine, Ranzovius, Lindhout, Origan,
&c. But these men you will reject peradventure, as astrolo¬
gers, and therefore partial judges; then hear the testimony of
physicians, Galenists themselves. b Crato confesseth the in¬
fluence of stars to have a great hand to this peculiar disease:
so doth Jason Pratensis, Lonicerius {prof at de Apoplexid)
Fieinus, Fernelius, &c. cP. Cnemander acknowledged the
stars an universal cause, the particular from parents, and the
use of thesis non-natui’al things. Baptista Port. mag. 1. I.
c. 10, 12, 15, will have them causes to every particular indi-
viduum. Instances and examples; to evince the truth of those
aphorisms, are common amongst those astrologian treatises.
Cardan, in his thirty-seventh geniture, gives instance in Math.-
Bolognius, Camerar, hor.natalit. centur.'J. genit. 6. etj. of
Daniel Gare, and others, but see Garcssus, cap. S3. Luc.
Gauricus, Tract 6. de Azemenis, Sf-c. The time of this me¬
lancholy is, when the significators of any geniture are directed
according to art, as the hor. moon, hylech, &c. to the hostile
beams or terms of T? and $ especially, or any fixed star of
their nature, or if T? , by his revolution, or transitus, shall of¬
fend any of those radical pronlissors in the geniture.
Other signs there are taken from physiognomy, metopos-
copy, chiromancy, which because Joh. de lndagine, and Rot-
man (the landgrave of Hassia his mathematician) not long
since in his Chiromancy* Baptista Porta, in his celestial Phy¬
siognomy, have proved to hold great affinity with astrology,
to satisfie the curious, I am the more willing to insert.
The general notions d physiognomers give, be these : black
colour argues natural melancholy ; so doth leanness, hirsute -
ness, broad veins, much hair on the brows, saith eGratanaro-
lus, cap. 7. and a little head, out of Aristotle : high sanguine
red colour shews head melancholy ; they that stutter and are
bald, will be soonest melancholy, as Avicenna supposed)
by reason of the driness of their brains. But he that will
know more of the several signs of humours and wits out of
physiognomy, let him consult with old Adamantus and Pole-
aPtolem®us, Centiloquio, et quadripartite tribuit omnium melancholicorum sym-
ptomata siderum influentiis. b Arte Medica. Accednnt ad has caussas affectiones
siderum; Pluritnum incitant et provocant influentias coelestes. Velcurio, lib. 4.
cap. 15. c Hildesheim, spicil. 2. de mel. d Joh. de Indag. c. 9. Mont¬
agus, cap. 23. e Caput parvum qui habent, cerebrum habent et spiritns ple-
nimque an gustos. — Facile incidunt in melancholiam rubicundi. Aetius. Idem Mon-
taltnsj c. 21. e. Galeno.
85
Mem. 1. Subs. 4.] Causes of Melancholy.
mus, that comment, or rather paraphrase, upon Aristotles
Physiognomy, Baptista Portas four pleasant books, Michael
Scot de secretis natures, John de Indagine, Montaltus, Antony
Zara, anat. ingeniorum, sect. 2. memb. 23. et lib. 4.
Chiromancy hath these aphorisms to foretell melancholy.
Tasnier, lib. 5. cap. 2. (who hath comprehended the summ of
John de Indagine, Tricassus, Corvinus, and others, in his
book) thus hath it: &The Saturnine line going from the rasceita
through the hand, to Saturns mount, and there intersected by
certain little lines , argues melancholy ; so if the vital and
natural make an acute angle. Aphorism 100 The Satur¬
nine, epatick , and natural lines , making a gross triangle inthe
hand, argue as much ; which Goclenius ( cap. 5. Chiros.)
repeats verbatim out of him. .In general, they conclude all,
that, if Saturns mount be full of many small lines and inter¬
sections, b such men are most part melancholy, miserable, and
full of disquietness, care and trouble, continually vexed with
anxious and bitter thoughts, alway sorrowful, fearful, sus¬
picious : they delight in husbandry, buildings, pools , marshes,
springs, woods, walks, Sfc. Thaddaeus Haggesius, in his We-
toposcopia, hath certain aphorisms derived Trom Saturns lines
in the forehead, by which lie collects a melancholy disposition;
and ^Baptista Porta makes observations from those other parts
of the body, as, if a spot be over the spleen ; A or in the nails,
if" it appear black, it signifieth much care, grief contention,
and melancholy . The reason he refers to the humours, and
gives instance in himself, that, for seven years space, he had
such black spots in his nails, and all that while was in perpe¬
tual law-sutes, controversies for his inheritance, fear, loss of
honour, banishment, grief, care, &c. and when his miseries
ended, the black spots vanished. Cardan, in his book de libris
propriis, tells such a story of his own person, that a little be¬
fore his sons death, he had a black spot, which appeared in
one of his nails, and dilated it self as he came nearer to his
end. But I am over-tedious in these toyes, which (howsoever,
insome mens too severe censures, they may be held absurd and
ridiculous) I am the bolder to insert, as not borrowed from
cirCumforanean roguesand Gipsies, but out of the writings of
worthy philosophers, and physicians, yet living, some of them,
a Saturaia, a rascetta per mediam manum decurrens, usque ad radicem montis Sa¬
turn!, a parvis lineis intersecta, arguit melancholicos. Aphoris.78. aAgi-
tantur miseriis, continuis inquietudinibus, neque unquam a solicitudine liberi sunt :
anxie affliguntur amarissimis intra cogitationibus, semper tristes, suspiciosi, meticu-
losi : cogitationes sunt, velle agrum colere, stagna amant et paludes, &c. Joh. de In-
dagie. lib. 1. <= Coelestis Physiogn. lib. 10. dCap. 14. lib" 5. Idem Macula
in ungulis nigrse, Iites, rixas, meiancholiam significant, ab humore in corde tali.
86 Causes of Melancholy. [ Part. \ Sec, 2
and religious professors in famous universities, who are able
to patronize that whieh they have said, and vindicate them¬
selves from all cavillers and ignorant persons.
SUBSECT. V.
Old age a cause .
SeCUNDARY peculiar causes efficient (so called in re¬
spect of the other precedent) are either congenita, in -
ternce innatce, as they term them, inward, innate, inbred;
or else outward and adventitious, which happen to us after we
are born : congenite, or born with us, are either natural, as
old age, or prater naturarh (as a Fernelius calls it) , that dis-
temperature, which we have from our parents seed, it being
an hereditary disease. The first of these, which is natural to
all, and which no man living can avoid, is bold age, which
being cold and dry, and of the same quality as melancholy is,
must needs cause it, by diminution of spirits and substance,
and increasing of adust humours. Therefore cMelancthon
avers out of Aristotle, as an undoubted truth, senes plerumque
delirasse in senecta , that old men familiarly dote, ob atram
bilem , for black choler, which is then superabundant in them :
and Rhasis, that Arabian physician, (in his Cont. lib. 1 . cap.
9.) calls it d a necessary and inseparable accident to all old
and decrepit persons. After seventy years, (as the e Psalmist
saith) all is trouble and sorrow ; and common experience con¬
firms the truth of it in weak and old persons, especially in
such as have lived in action all their lives, had great imploy-
ments, much, business, much command, and many servants,
to oversee, and leave off ex abrupto ; as / Charles the Fifth
did to 'King Philip,. resign up all on a sudden. They are
overcome with melancholy in an instant; or, if they do con¬
tinue in such courses, they dote at last, ( senex bis puer )
and are not able to manage their estates, through common
infirmities incident to their age; full of ache, sorrow, and
f ief, children again, dizards; they carle many times as'
ey sit, and talk to themselves ; sfhey are angry, waspish,
displeased with every thing, suspicious of all, wayward,
covetous , hard, (saith Tully) self-willed, superstitious, self-
conceited, braggers and admirers of themselves, as Balthasar
aLib. 1. Path. c. 11. b Venit enim, properata malis, mopina senectna:
Et dolor astatem jussit inesse meam. Boethius, met. 1. de consol, philos. c Cap.
de humoribus, lib. de anima. d Necessarium accidens decrepitis, et inseparabue
* Psal. 90. 10- fMeteran. Bglg. hist lib. 1. f s Sunt morosi, etanxii, et
iracundi, et difficiles senes, si quserimus, etiam avari. Tull, de senectute.
87
Mem. 1. Subs. 6.] Causes of Melancholy.
Castalio hath truly noted of them. This natural infirmity is
most eminent in old women, and such as are poor, solitary, live
in most base esteem and beggary, or such as are witches ;
insomuch that a Wierus, Baptista Porta, Ulricus Molitor, Ed-
wicus, do refer all that witches are said to do, to imagination
alone, and this humour of melancholy. And whereas it is
controverted, whether they can bewitch cattle to death, ride
in the air upon a coulstaff out of a chimney-top, transform
themselves into cats, dogs, &c. translate bodies from place to
place, meet in companies, and dance, as they do, or have car¬
nal copulation with the devil, they ascribe all to this redun¬
dant melancholy, which domineers in them, to b somniferous
potions, and natural causes, the devils policy. Non laedunt
omnino , (saith Wierus) aut quid mirum faciunt , (de Lamiis ,
lib. 3. cap. 36.) utputatur: solam vitiatam habent phanta-
siam ; they do no such wonders at all, only their c brains are
crazed. d They think they are witches and can do hurt, hut do
not. But this opinion Bodine, Erastus, Danaeus, Scribanius,
Sebastian Michaelis, Campanella, (de Sensu rerum, lib. 4,
cap. 9.) eDandinus the Jesuit, (lib. 2. de Anima) explode ;
f Cicogna confutes at large. Tnat witches are melancholy,
they deny not, but not out of corrupt phantasie alone, so to
delude themselves and others, or to produce such effects.
SUBSECT. VI.
Parents a cause by propagation.
That other inward inbred cause of melancholy is our tem¬
perature, in whole or part, which we receive from our parents,
which gFernelius caWsprceter naturam , orunnatural,itbeingan
hereditary disease ; for as he justifies, quale par entum, maxime
patris, semen obtigerit, tales evadunt simulares spermaticceque
partes: quocumque etiam morbo pater , quum general, tenetur,
cumsemine transfert in prolem : such as the temperature of the
father is, such is the sons ; and, look, what disease the father had
aLib. 2. de Aalico. Senes avari, meiosi, jactabundi, philauti, deliri, superstitiosi,
suspiciosi, &c. Lib. 3. de lamiis, c. 17. et 18. b Solanum, opium, lupi adeps,
lac. asini, &c. sanguis infantum, &c. c Corrupta estiis ab humore melancholico
phantasia. Nymannus. dPutant se lsedere, quando non laedunt, eQui
h®c iu imaginationis vim referre conati sunt, aut atrae bilis, inanem prorsus laborem
susceperunt. f Lib. 3. cap. 4. omnif, mag. s Lib. 1. c. 'll. path. h TJt
arthritici, epilep. &c.
VOL. I. P
88 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
when he begot, him, his son will have after him, a an# is as
well inheritor of his infirmities, as of bis lands. And where the
complexion and constitution of the father is corrupt, there,
(bsaith Roger Bacon) the complexion and constitution of the
son must needs he corrupt ; and so the corruption is derived
from the father to the son. Now this doth not so much appear
in the composition of the body, according to that of mppcH
crates, cin habit, proportion, scans, and other lineaments -, hut
in manners and conditions of the mind ;
Et patrum in natos abeunt, cum.semine, mores,
Seleucus had an anchor on his thigh ; so had his posterity, as
Trogus records, l. 15. Lepidus (in Pliny, l. 7. c. 17) was pur¬
blind ; so was his son. That famous family of iEnobarbi were
known of old, and so surnamed, from their red beards. The
Austrian lip, and those Indians flat noses, are propagated ; the
Bavarian chin, and goggle eyes amongst the Jews, asdBux-
torfius observes. Their voice, pace, gesture, looks, are likewise
derived, with all the rest of their conditions and infirmities;
such a mother, such a daughter ; their very e affections Lem-
nius contends to follow their seed, and the malice and had con¬
ditions of children are many times wholly to be imputed to their
parents. I need not therefore make any doubt of melancholy,
but that it is an hereditary disease. f Paracelsus in express
words affirms it, lib. de morb. dmentium. To. 4. Tr. 1; so
doth § Crato in an epistle of his to Monavius : so doth Bruno
Seidelius, in his book de morbo incurab. Montaltus proves
(cap. 1 1.) out of Hippocrates and Plutarch, that such here¬
ditary dispositions are frequent ; et hanc (inquit) fieri reor
ob pjxrticipqtum melmcholicam intenvperantmm (speaking of
a patient) : I think he became so by participation: of melan¬
choly. DanietSennertus (lib. 1. part. % cap, 9.) will have this
melancholy constitution derived not only from the father to the
spp, but to the whole family sometimes ; quandoqm totisfaini-
liis hcereditativam, hForestus in his Medicinal Observations,
illustrates this point with an exampl e of a merchant his patient
aUt filii, non tam possessionum, quam morbomm hseredes sint. b Epist. de
secretis artis et naturas, c. 7. Nam in hoc quod patres corrupti sunt, generant filios
corrupt® complexionis, et compositionis ; et filii ecrum, eadem de caussa, se corrum-
punt; et sic deriyata corruptio a piitribus ad fiiios. - c Non tam (inqnit Hippocrates)
gibbqs et cicatrices oris et corporis habitant agnoseis ex iis,sed yerumincesslim.; gestus,
nfores, morboSj &c. >> Synagog. Jud. « Affectus parentum in fetus
transeunt, et puerorum malitia parentibns imputanda,!. 4. cap. 3, de occult, natmirae,
f Ex pituitosis pituitosi, ex. biliosis biliosi, ex-lienosis et melancholicis melancholic!.
sJSp. 174. imScoltz. Nascitur nobiscum ilia, aliturque, et una cum parentibusrhaber
mus malum hunc. . Jo. Pelesius, lib. 2. de cura humanorum affectuum. bEib. li).
obsery. 15.
Mem. 1. Subs. 6.] Causes of Melancholy. 89
that had this infirmity by inheritance; so doth Rodericus
a Fonseca, (Torn. 1. consul. 69) by an instance ofayoungman
that was so affected ex rriatre rhelancholica, had a melancholy
mother, etvictu melancholico , and bad diet together. Ludo¬
vicos Mer'cattis, a Spanish physician, (111 that excellent tract,
which he hath lately written ofhereditary diseases, Tom. %oper.
lib. 5.) reckons up leprosie, as those a Gal hots in Gascony, he¬
reditary lepers, pox, Stone, gout, epilepsie, &c. Amongst the
rest, this and madness after a set time comes to many, which
he calls a miraculous' thing in nature, and Sticks for ever to
them as an incurable habit. And, that which is more to be
wondered at, it skips ih some families the father, and goes to
the son, 6 or takes every other , and sometimes every third, ih
a lineal descent, and doth not alwayes produce the same, but
sortie like, and a symbolizing disease. Theseseeundary causes,
hence derived, are commonly so powerful, that (as c Wolphi.us
holds) Stepe Mutant decreta siderum ; they do Often alter the
primary causes, and decrees of the heavens. For these reasons,
belike, the church and common-wealth, humane and divine
laws, have conspired to avoid hereditary diseases, forbidding
such marriages as are any whit allyed ; and, aS Mercatus ad-
viseth all families, to take such, si fieri possii, quce maxiriie
distant naturd, and to make choice of those that are most dif*
faring in complexion from them : if they love their own, and
respect the common good. And sure, I think, it hath Been
ordered by Gods especial providence, that, in all ages, there
should he, (as Usually s there is) olice in dSix hundred years, a
transmigration of nations to amend and purifie their blood, as
We alter seed upon our 1 and, and that there should be as if were an
inundation of (hose northern Goths and Van dales, and many
suchlike people wh ich c'ame out of that con tinent of Scan did,
and Sarmatia (as some Suppose,) and over-fan, as a deluge,
most part of Europe and Africk, to alter (for our gOod) our
complexions, which were much defaced with hereditary in¬
firmities, which by oitr lust and intemperance we had eon-
. tracted. A- sound generation of strong and able men were
sent amongst us, as those northern men usually are, ihnocu-
ous, free from riot, and- free from diseases ; to quatifie and
make us as those poor naked Indians are generally at this
day, and those about Bfasile, (as a fate e writer observes) in
a'Maginus, Geog. bSEepe non eundem,sed gimllem producit effectum, et
iUffiso parente. transit in nepotem. « Dial, prsefix. genlturls Eeovitii. <IBodm.
de rep. cap. de periodis reip. e Claudius _Aibaville,.Capuehion, in' His voyage to
Slaragnan. Kil t. c. 45. Nemo fere aegrotus, sano ornnes et robusto corpore, vivunt
aimosl20, 140, side mediema. Idem. Hector Boethius de insulis Orchad-. etDamiadus
a Goes de Scandia.
pg
90 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1 . Sec. 2.
theisle of Maragnan, free from all hereditary diseases, or other
contagion, whereas, without help of physick, they live com¬
monly an hundred and twenty years or more ; as in the Qr-
chades and many other places. Such are the common effects
of temperance, and intemperance : but I will descend to par¬
ticulars, and shew by what means, and by whom especially,
this infirmity is derived unto us.
Filii ex senibus nati raro sunt ^ rmi temperamentt : old mens
children are seldom of a good temperament, (as Scoltzius
supposeth, consult. 177) and therefore most apt to this disease :
and, as a Levinus Lemnius farther adds, old men beget, most
part, wayward, peevish, sad, melancholy sons, and seldom
merry. bHe that begets a child on a full stomach, will either
have a sick child, or a crazed son (as b Cardan thinks, contra¬
dict. med. lib. 1. contradict J 18) ; or, if the parents be sick or
have any great pain of the head, or megrim, head-ache, ^Hie¬
ronymus Wolfius doth instance in a child of Sebastian Cas-
talio’s) or if a drunken man get a child, it will never, likely,
have a good brain, as Gellius argues, lib. 12. cap. 1. Ebrii
gignunt ebrios ; one drunkard begets another saith dPlutarch,
( sym . lib. 1. qucest. 5.) whose sentence e Lemnius approves,.
1. 1. c. 4. Alsarius Crutius Gen. de qui sit med . cent. 3.
fol. 182. Macrobius lib. 1. Avicenna lib. 3. Fen. 21.
Tract 1 . cap. 8. and Aristotle himself sect. 2. prob. 4.
Foolish, drunken, or hair-brain women, most part bring forth
children like unto themselves, morosos et languidos : and so
likewise he that lyes with a menstruous woman. Intemper antia
Veneris , quam in nautis praesertim insectatur f Lemnius, qui
uxores ineunt, nulla menstrui decursus ratione habita, nec ob-
servato inter lunio, prcecipua caussa est, noxia, perniciosa:
(concubituni kune exitialem ideo, et pestiferum, vocat Rode-
ricus a Castro , Lusitanus ; detestantur ad urium ornnes medici )
turn et quarto, luna concepti, infelices plerumque et ammtes,
deliri, stolidi, morbosi, impuri, invalidi , tetra lue sordidi,
minime vitales , omnibus bonis corporis atque animi destituti:
ad laborem nati, si seniores, ( inquit g Eustathius ) ut Hercules ,
et alii. liJudcei maxime insect aniur feedum hunc et immun-
dum apud Christianos concubitum, ut illicitum abjiorrent, et
apud suos prohibent ; et quod Christiani toties leprosi,
amentes, tot morbilli, impetigines, alphi, psoroe cutis et faciei
aLib. 4. c. 3. de occult, nat. mir. Tetricos plerumque filios senes progenerant et
tristes, rarius exhilarates. b Coitus super repletionem pessimus, et filii qui turn gig-
nuntur, ant morbosi sunt, aut stolidi. c Dial, praefix. Leovitio. >1 L. de ed. liberis.
eDe occul. nat. mor. Temulentas et stolidae mulieres liberos plerunque producunt sibi
similes. f Lib. 2. c. 8. de occult, nat mir. Good master schoolmaster, do not
english this. s De nat. mul. lib. 3.- cap. 4. k Buxendorphius, c. 13. Svnag.
. Jad.Ezek. IS. .
91
Memb. 1. Subs, 6.] Causes of Melancholy.
decolor ationes , tarn multi morbi epidemici, acerbi , et venenosi
sint, in hunc immundum concubitum rejiciunt ; et crudeles in
pignora vocant, qui, quart a lund, profluente Tiac mensiitm
illume , concubitum hunc non per horrescunt. Damnavit olim
divina lex, et morte mulctavit hujusmodi homines (Lev. 18. 20)
et inde nati si qui deformes aut mutili, pater dilapidatus, quod
non contineret ab a immunda muliere. Gregorius Magnus, pe-
tienti Augustino numquid apud b Britannos hujusmodi concu¬
bitum toleraret, severe prohibuit viris suis turn misceri feminas
in consuetis suis menstruis, Sfc. I spare to English this which
I have said. Another cause some give— inordinate diet, as if a
man eat garlick, onions, fast over-much, study too hard, be
over sorrowful, dull, heavy, dejected in mind, perplexed in his
thoughts, fearful, &c. their children (saith c Cardan subtil,
lib. 18) will be much subject to madness and melancholy ; for ,
if the spirits of the brain befusled or mis-affected by such
means at such a time , their children will befusled in the brain ;
they will be dull, heavy, timorous, discontented all their lives.
Some are of opinion, and maintain that paradox or problem,
that wise men beget commonly fools. - Suidas gives instance
in Aristarchus the grammarian; duos reliquit filios, Aristar-
chum et Aristachorum, ambos stultos; and (which d Erasmus
urgeth in his Moria) fools beget wise men. Card, subtil. £12.
gives this cause : quoniam spiritus sapientium ob studium re-
solvuntur, et in cerebrum feruntur a corde :■ because their na¬
tural spirits are resolved by study, and turned into animal ;
drawn from the heart, and those other parts, to the brain.
Lemnius subscribes to that of Cardan, and assigns this reason,
quodpersolvant debitum languide, et oscitanter ; unde fetus a
parentum generositate desciscit: they pay their debt (as Paul
calls it) to their wives remisly ; by which means their children
are weaklings, and many times idiots and fools.
Some other causes are given, which properly pertain to, and
proceed from, the mother. If she be over-dull, heavy, angry,
peevish, discontented, and melancholy, not only at the time of
conception, but even all the while she carries the child in her
womb, (saith Fernelius,2>a#A. 1. 1. 11) her son will be so like¬
wise affected ; and worse, (as e Lemnius adds, l. 4. c. 7) if she
grieve overmuch, be disquieted, or by any casualty be affrighted
and terrified by some fearful object, heard or seen, she endan-
* Drasius, obs. lib. 3. cap. 20. bBed. Eccl. hist. lib. 1. c. 27. respon. 10.
cNam spiritus cerebri si turn male afficiantur, tales procreant ; et quales foerint af-
fectus, tales .filiorum: ex tristibus tristes. ex jucundis jucundi nascuntur. Sec.
aPol. 229. mer. Socrates children were fools. Sab. e I)e occul. nat.mir. Pica,
morbus mulieram.
92
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. g.
gers her child, andspoils the temperature of it ; for the strange
imagination of a woman works effectually upon her infant,
that (as Baptista Porta proves ,Physiog.ccelestis, l. o.e. 2) she
leaves a mark upon it ; which is most especially seen in such
as prodigiously long for such and such meats : the child will
love those meats, saith Fernelius, and be addicted to like hu¬
mours. a If a, great-bellied woman see a hare, her child will
often, have an hare-lip, as we call it. Garcaeus, de Judiciis ge-
niiurarum, c, 33. hath a memorable example of one Thomas
Nickel!, born in the city of Brandeburge, 1551, b that went
reeling and staggering all the dayes of‘ his life , as if he would
fall to the ground, because his mother , being great with child,
saw a drunken mmireeling in the street. Such an other 1 find
in Martin Wenrickius, com. de ortu monstrorum, c. 17. c I saw,
(saith he) at Wittenberg'e in Germany, a citizen that looked
like a carkass. I asked Mm the cause : he reply ed, his mother,
when she bore him in her womb, saw a carkass by chance, and
was sore affrighted with it, that ex eo fetus ei assimilatus:
from a ghastly impression, the child was like it-
So many several wayes are we plagued and punished for
our fathers defaults ; in so much that (as Fernelius truly saith)
Ait is the greatest, part of am- felicity to be well born ; and it
were happy for humane kind, if only such parents, as are sound
of body and mind, should be suffered to marry. An husband¬
man will sow none but the best and choicest seed upon his
land | he will not rear a bull or an horse, except he be right
shapen in all parts, or permit him to cover a mare, except he
be well assured of his breed ; we make choice of the best rams
for our sheep, rear the neatest kine, and keep the best dogs;
quanto id dUiyentius in procreandis liheris observandum? and
how careful then should we be in begetting of our children? In
former time, some e countreys have been so chary in this behalf,
so stern, that, if a child were crooked or deformed in body or
mind, they made him away; so did the Indians of old (by the
relation of Curtins), audmany other welhgoverned common¬
wealths, according to the discipline of those times. Here-
a Baptista Porta3 loco prasd. Ex leporum intuitu plerseque infantes edunt bifido su-
periore labeilo. *> Quasi moi in terram collapsurus, per omnem vitam ince-
debat, cum mater gravida ebrium hominem sic incedentem viderat. c Civem
facie cadaverosa, qui dixit, &c. d Optimum bene nasci ; maxima pars felici¬
tates nostras bene nasci : quamobrem pra'clare bumano generi consuitum videretur, si
soli patentee bene habiti et sani Kberip operam darent. ^Infantes infirmi pr.ai-
ctpitio neeati. Bqnemus, lib. 3C o, 3‘. Apud Eaconesplim. Eipsius, epist. 85. cent.,
aA Belgas, Dionysio Yillerie, Siqeos aKqaamembrotum parte inutites notav.efiat, sje-
carijabent.
93
Mem. 3. Subs. 3.] Causes of Melancholy .
tofore, in Scotland, (saith aHect. Boethius) if any were visited
with the falling sickness, madness, gout , leprosie, or any such
dangerous disease, which was likely to he propagated from the
father to the son, he was instantly gelded ; a woman kept from
all company of men ; and if hy chance, having some such dis¬
ease, she were found to be with child, she with her brood were
buried alive : and this was done for the common good, lest the
whole nation shoul d be iiij ured or corrupted . A severe doom,
you will say, and not to be Used amongst Christians, yet more'
to be looked into than it is. For now, by our too much facility
in this kind, in giving way for all to marry that will, too much
liberty and indulgence in tolerating all sorts, there is a vast con¬
fusion of hereditary diseases, no family secure, no man almost
free from some grievous infirmity or other. When no choice is!
had, but still the eldest must marry, as so many stallions Of the.
race ; or, if rich, be they fools or dizzards, lame or maimed, tin-!
able, intemperate, dissolute, exhaust through riot, (as he said)’
^ jure heereditario sapere jubentur ; they must be wise and able
by inheritance ; it comes to pass that our generation is corrupt;
we have many weak persons, both in body and mind, many feral
diseases raging amongst iis, crazed families, par elites peremp-
tores ; our fathers bad; and we are like to be worse.
. memb; Ji. ;
SUBSECT. I.
Sad diet a cause.. Substance. Quality of meats.
A C C GUDIN G to my proposed method* having opened
hitherto these gecundary causes, which are inbred with us, I
must now proceed to the outward and adventitious, which hap¬
pen unto us after we are born. And those are either evident,
remote ; or inward, antecedent, and the nearest : continent
causes some call them. These outward, remote, precedent
causes are subdivided again into necessary not necessary.
Necessary (because we Cannot avoid! them, but they will alter
us, as they are used, or abused) are those six non-natural things,'
so much spoken of amongst physicians, which are principal
causes of this disease: for,almostin every cousultation, whereas
aLib. 1. de veterum Scotoram moribus. Morbo comitiali, dementia, mania, lepra,
&c. aut simili labe, quae facile in prolem transmittitnr, laborantes inter ;eos, ingenti.
fact4 indagine, iiiventos, ne gens fceda contagion® federetur, ex iis nata, castraveront ;
mtdieres bnjusmodi procnl a virorum consortio ablegarant : quod si harum aliquacon-
cepisse inveniebatur, simul cumfetu noadum edito, defodiebatur viva. bEuphonm(>
Satyr..
94 Causes of Melancholy, [Part 1. Sec. 1.
they shall come to speak of the causes, the fault is found, and
this most part objected to the patient ; peccavit circa res sex
non naturales : he hath still offended in one of those six. Mon¬
tan us, ( consil . 22.) consulted about amelancholy Jew, gives that
sentence ; so did Frisemelicja in the same place ; and, in his two
hundred forty fourth counsel, censuring a melancholy souldier,
assigns that reason of his malady : aHe offended in all those six
non-natural things, which were the outward causes, from which
came those inward obstructions ; and so in the rest.
These six non-natural things are diet, retention, and
evacuation, which are more material than the other, because
they make new matter, or else are conversant in keeping or
expelling it. The other four are, air, exercise, sleeping, waking,
and perturbations of the mind, which only alter the matter.
The first of these is diet, which consists in meat and drink,
and causeth melancholy, as it offends in substance or accidents,
that is quantity, quality, or the like. And well it may be
called a material cause, since that, asbFernelius holds, it hath
such a power in begetting of diseases, and yields the matter
and sustenance of them; for neither air, nor perturbations,
nor any of those other evident causes, take place or work this
effect , except the constitution of body and preparation of hu¬
mours do concur ; that a man may say, this diet is the
mother of diseases, let the father be what he will ; and from,
this alone, melancholy and frequent other maladies arise.
Many physicians, I confess, have written copious. volumes of
this one subject, of the nature and qualities of all manner of
meats; as, namely, Galen, Isaac the Jew ; Haly abbas, Avicenna,
Mesue, also four Arabians ; Gordonius, Villanovanus, Wecker,
Johannes Bruernius, sitologia de Esculentis et Proculentis,
Michael Savanarola, Tract. 2. cap. 8. Anthony Fumanellus,
lib. de regimine senum. Curio in his comment on Schola
Salerno, Godefridus Stekius artemed. MarsiliusCognatus, Fici-
nus, Ranzovius, Fonseca, Lessius, Magninus, regim.sanitatis ,
Frietagius, Hugo Fridevallius* &e. beside many other in
c English; and almost every peculiar physician discourseth at
large of all peculiar meats in his chapter of melancholy. Yet,
because these books are not at hand to every man, I will briefly
touch what kind of meats ingender this humour, through their
several species, and which are to be avoided. How they alter
a Fecit omnia delicta, quae fieri possunt, circa res sex non naturales ; et ese fuerunt
caussse extrinsecae, ex quibus postea ortse sunt obstructione's. t> Path. 1. 1. e. 2.
Maximum in gignendis morbis vim obtinet, pabulum, materiamqne morbi suggerens j
nam Dec ab aere, nec a pertqrbationibns, vel aliis evidentibus caussis morbi sunt, nisi
consentiat corporis prseparatio, et humornm constitutio. Ut semel dicam, una gula est
omnium morborum mater, etiamsi alius est genitor. Ab hac morbi spoute saepe
rmauant, nulla alia cogrnte caussa, ^ Cogan, Eliot, Vauhan, Vener,
S5
Mein. 3. Subs. 1.] Causes of Melancholy.
and change the matter, spirits first, and after humours, by
which we are preserved, and the constitution of our body,
Eernelius and others will shew you. I hasten to the thing it
self: and, first, of such diet as offends in substance.
Beef 1] Beef, a strong and hearty meat (cold in the first
degree, dry in the second, saith Gal, l. 3. c. 1. de alimfac.)
is condemned by him, and all succeedingauthors, to breed gross
melancholy blood ; good for such as are sound, and of a strong
constitution, for labouring men, if ordered aright, corned,
young of an ox, for all gelded meats in every species are held
best ; or, if old, a such as have been tired out with labour, are
preferred. Aubanus and Sabellicus commend Portugal beef
to be the most savoury, best, and easiest of digestion ; we com¬
mend ours : but all is rejected and unfit for such as lead aresty
life, any ways inclined to melancholy, or dry of complexion.
Tales (Galen thinks) de facili melancholicis cegritudinibus
eapiuntur .
Pork.'] Pork, of all meats, is most nutritive in his own na¬
ture, but altogether unfit for; such as live at ease, or are any
ways unsound of body or mind ; too moist, full of humours,
and therefore noxia delicatis, saith Savanarola, ex earum usu
ut dubitetur,anfebris quartana generetur : naught for queasie
stomachs, in so much, that frequent use of it may breed a
quartan ague. . ;
Goat.] Savanarola discommends goats flesh, and so doth
b Bruerinus, 1. 13. c. 19, calling it a filthy beast, and rammish;
and therefore supposeth it will breedrankand filthy substance:
yet kid, such as are young and tender, Isaac excepts, Bruerinus,
and Galen, l- 1. c. 1 . de alimentorum facultatibus .
Hart.] Hart, and red deer, c hath an evil name; it yields
gross nutriment ; a strong and great grained meat, next unto
a horse, which although some countries eat, as Tartars and
they of China, yet d Galen condemns. Young foals are as com¬
monly eaten in Spain, as red deer, and to furnish their navies,
about Malaga especially, often used. But such meats ask
long baking or seething, to qualifie them ; and yet all will
not serve.
Venison, Fallow Deer.] All venison is melancholy, and
begets bad blood : a pleasant meat in great esteem with us
(for we have more parks in England than there are in all
Europe besides) in our solemn feasts. ’Tis somewhat better,
a Frietagius. b Non laudatur, quia melancholicum prsefcet alimentam.
c Male alit cervina (inquit Frietagius) : crassissimum et atribilarium suppeditat ali-
mentum. ^Lib. de subtiliss. diaeta. Equina caro et asinina equinis danda est.
hbjninibus et asininis.
98
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 2
hunted, than otherwise, and well prepared by cookery; but
generally bad, and seldom to be used.
Hare.] Hare, a black meat, melancholy, and hard of diges¬
tion : it breeds incubus , often eaten, and causeth fearful dreams;
so doth all venison, and is condemn ed by a j ury of physicians,
Mizaldus and some others say that hare is a merry meat, and
that it will.make one fair, as Martials epigram testifies to Gellia;
but this is per accidens , because of the good sport it makes,
merry company, and good discourse that is commonly at the
eating of it, and not otherwise to be understood.
Conies.'] a Conies are of the nature of hares. Magninus
compares them to beef, pig, and goat, Reg. sanit.part. 3. c. 17 :
yet young rabbets, by all men are approved to be good.
Generally, all such meats as are hard of digestion, breed
melancholy. Aretseus, lib. 7. cap. 5, reckons up heads and
feet, b bowels, brains, entrails, marrow, fat, blood, skins, and
those inward parts, as heart, lungs, liver, spleen, &c. They’
are rejected by Isaac, lib. 2. part. 3. Magnmus, part. 3. cap.
17. Bruerinus, lib. 12. Savonarola, Ruh. 82. Tract. 2.
Milk.] Milk, and all that comes of milk, as butter and cheese,
curds, &c. increase melancholy (whey only excepted, which is
most wholesome.) c Some except asses milk. The rest, to such
as are sound, is nutritive and good, especially for young
children ; but, because soon turned to corruption, dnot good
for those that have unclean stomachs, are subject to headaeh,
or have green wounds, stone, &c. Of all cheeses, I take that
kind which we call Banbury cheese to be the best. 'Ex veiustis
pessimus, the older, stronger, and harder, the worst, as Lan-
gius discourseth in his Epistle to Melancthon, cited by
Mizaldus, Isaac, p. 5. Gal. 3. de cihis honi sued, fyc.
Fowl .] Amongst fowl, e peacocks and pigeons, all fenny
fowl, are forbidden, as ducks, geese, swans, herns, cranes,
coots, didappers, waterhens, with all those teals, curs, shel¬
drakes, and peckled fowls, that come hither in winter out oh
Scandia, Muscovy, Greenland, Friezland, which half the year
are covered all over with snow and frozen up. Though these
be fair in feathers, pleasant in taste, and have a good outside
(like hypocrites), white in plumes, and soft, their flesh is hard,
black, unwholesome, dangerous, melancholy meat. Gravani
et putrefaciunt stomachum, saith Isaac, part. 5. de voi. their
young ones are more tolerable ; but young pigeons he quite
disproves.*
a Parum abaunt a natura leporum. Bruerinus., 1, 13. cap. 25. pullorum tenera et
optima. b IHaudabilis succi nauseam provocant. _ c Piso. Altomar,
d Curio. Frietagius. Magninus. part. 3. cap. 17.— Mercrtrialis, de affect, lib'. 1 . c. 10.
excepts all milk meats iu hypocoudriacal melancholy. • e Wecker, Syntax, theor.
97
Menu 2. Subs. L] Causes of Melancholy.
Fishes.'] Rhasis and a Magnums discommend all fish, and
say, they breed viscosities, slimy nutriment, little and humorous
nourishment; Savanarola adds cold, moist; and phlegmatick,
Isaac ; and therefore unwholsome for all cold and melancholy
complexions. Others make a difference, rejecting only among
fresh-water fish, eel, tench, lamprey, craw-fish, (which Bright
approves, cap. 6), and such as are bred in muddy and standing
waters, and have a taste of mud, as Franciscus Bonsuetus
poetically defines. (Lib. de aquatilibus )
Nam pisces ornnes, qui stagna lacusque frequentant,
Semper plus sucei deteriores habent.
All fish, that standing pools and lakes frequent,
Do ever yield bad juyce and nourishment.
Lampreys, Paiilus Jovius (c. 34t. de piscibus fluvial.) highly
magnifies, and saith, none speak against them, but inepti and
scrupulosi ; some scrupulous persons; hut b eels (c. 33.) he ah-
horreth : in all places, at all times, all physicians detest them,
especially about the solstice. G'omesius (jib. 1. c. 22. de sale)
doth immoderately extol sea-fish, which others as much vilifie,
and, above the rest, dryed, sowced, indurate fish, as ling,
fumados, red-herrings, sprats, stock-fish, haberdine, poor-john,
all shell-fish. c Tim. Bright excepts lobster and crab. Mes-
sarius commends salmon, which Bruerinus contradicts, lib. 22.
c. 3 7. Magninus rejects congre, sturgeon, turbot, mackerel,
skate.
Carp is a fish of which I know not what to determine. Fran¬
ciscus Bonsuetus accounts it a muddy fish. Hippolytus Sal-
vianus, in his book de Piseium natura preparations, which
was printed at Rome in folio 1 544, (with most elegant pic¬
tures) esteems carp no better than a slimy watery meat. Pau¬
lus Jovius, on the other side, disallowing tench, approves of
it; so doth Dubravius in his book of fish-ponds. Frietagius
d extols it for an excellent wholesome meat, and puts it amongst
the fishes of the best rank ; and so do most of our countrey
gentlemen, that store their ponds almost with no other fish.
But this controversie is easily decided, in my judgement,
by Bruerinus, l. 22. c. 13. The difference riseth from the
site and nature of pools, ^sometimes muddy, sometimes sweet:
they are in taste as the place-is,from whence they be taken. In
a Gap 18. part. 3. b Omniloco et omni tempore medici detestantur anguillas,
prsesertim circa solstitium. Damnantur torn sanis tnm aegris. c Gap. 6. in his
Tract of Melancholy. d Optime liutrit, omnium judicio, inter prims not® pisces
gastu prasstanti, 8 Non est dubium, quin,, pro vivariorum situ ac natura, magnas
alimantoruffl sortianlur differentias, alibi suavrores, alibi lutulentiores.
98
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
like manner almost, we may conclude of other fresh-fish. Bat
see more in Rondeletius, Bellonius, Oribasius, /i&. 7- cap. 22.
Isaac, l. 1. especially Hippolytus Salvianus, who is instar om¬
nium, solus, Sfc. Howsoever they may be wholesome and ap¬
proved, much use of them is not good. P. Forestus, in his
Medicinal Observations, a relates, that Carthusian fryers, whose
living is most part fish, are more subject to melancholy than any
other order; and thathe found by experience, being sometimes
their physician ordinary at Delph in Holland. He exemplifies
it with an instance of one Buscodnese, a Carthusian of a ruddy
colour, and well liking, that, by solitary living and fish-eating,
became so disaffected.
Herbs.] Amongst herbs to be eaten, I find gourds, cow-
cumbers, coleworts, melons, disallowed, but especially cab¬
bage. It causeth troublesome dreams, and sends up black
vapours to the brain. Galen, ( loc . affect. 1. 3. c. 6) of all
herbs, condemns cabbage ; and Isaac, lib. 2. c. 1. anivnce gra-
vitatem facit, it brings heaviness to the soul. Some are of
opinion, that all raw herbsand sal lets breedmelancholy blood,
except bugloss and lettice. Crato ( consil . 21. lib. 2) speaks
against all herbs aiid worts, except borrage, bugloss, fennel,
parsly, dill, bawn, succory. Magninus, (regirn. sanitatus, 3.
part. cap. 31) omnes herbee simplicity males, vid cibi : all herbs
are simply evil to feed on (as he thinks). Sordid that scoff¬
ing cook in b Plautus hold.
• - Non ego ccenamcondio, ut alii coqui solent,
Qui mihi condita prata in patinis proferant,
; Boves qui convivas faciurit, herbasque aggerunt.
Like other cooks, I do not supper dress,
That put whole medows in a platter,
And make no better of the guests than beeves.
With herbs and grass to feed them fatter.
Our Italians and Spaniards do make a whole dinner of herbs
and sallets (which our said Plautus calls coenas terrestres, Ho¬
race, ccenas sine sanguine ) ; by which means, as he follows it,
c Hie homines tam brevem vitam colunt— — «■
Qui herbas hujusmodi in alvum suam congerunt :
Formidolosum dictu, non esu modo,
Quas herbas pecudes non edunt, homines edunt.
Their livves, that eat such herbs, must needs be short;
And ’tis a fearful thing for to report,
aQbservat 16. lib. 10. Pseudolus, act. 3. seen. 2. _ c Plautus, ibid. ]
99
Mem. 2. Subs. 1.] Causes of Melancholy .
That men should feed on such a kind of meat,
Which very juments would refuse to eat.
a They are windy, and not fit therefore to be eaten of all men
raw, though qualified with oyl, but in broths, or otherwise.
See more of these in every b husbandman and herbalist.
Roots.'] Roots (etsi quar undam gentium opes sint , saith Brue-
rinus — the wealth of some countries, and sole food) are windy
and bad, or troublesome to the head ; as onyons, garlick, scal¬
lions, turneps,carrets, radishes, parsnips. Crato (lib. 2. consil.ll.)
disallows all roots; though c some approve of parsnips and
potatoes. d Magninus is of Cratos opinion — e they trouble the
mind, sending gross fumes to the brain, make men mad, espe¬
cially garlick, onyons, if a man liberally feed on them a year
together. Guianerius {tract. 15. cap. 2.) complains of all
manner of roots, and so doth Bruerinus, even parsnips them¬
selves, which are the best ; Lib. 9. cap. lA.pastinacarum usus
succos gignit improbos.
Fruits.] Crato (consil. 21. lib. 1) utterly forbids all manner
of fruits, as pears, apples, plums, cherries, strawberries, nuts,
medlers, serves, &c. Sangtdnem inficiunt, saithVillanovanus ;
they infect the blood; and putrifie it, Magninus holds, and
must not therefore be t&ken,vidcibi, aut quantitate magna, not
to make a meal of, or in any great quantity. f Cardan makes
thatacause oftheir continual sickness atFessa in Africk,/;eea«se
they live so. much on fruits, eating them thrice a day. Lau-
rentius approves of many fruits, in his Tract of Melancholy,
which others disallow, and, amongst the rest, apples, ('which
some likewise commend) as sweetings, pairmains, pippins, as
good against melancholy ; but to him that is any way inclined
to or touched with this malady, ^Nicholas Piso,in his Practicks,
forbids all fruits, as windy, orto be sparingly eaten at least, and
not raw. Amongst other fruits, h Bruerinus (out of Galen)
excepts grapes and figs ; but I find them likewise rejected.
Pulse, j All pulse are naught, beans, pease, fitches, &e.
they fill the brain (saith Isaac) with gross fumes, breed black
thick blood, and cause troublesome dreams. And therefore,
that which Pythagoras said to his scholars of old, may be for
eyerapplyed to melancholy men, Afabis abstinete; eat ho pease
a Quare' reclius valetudini suae quisque' consulet, qui, lapsus priorum parentum
memor, eas plane vel omiserit vel parce degustarit. Kersleius, cap. 4. de varo usu med.
h In Mizaldo de Horto, P. Crescent Herbastein, &c. . c Cap. 13. part. 3. Bright,
in his Tract of Mel. _ d Intellectum turbant, producunt insaniam. e Audivi,
(inquit Magnin.) quod, si quis ex iis per annum continue comedat, in insaniam caderet
c. 13. Improbi sncci sunt. cap. 12. fDe rerum yarietat. In Fessa plerumque
morbosi, quod fructus coraedant ter in die. s Cap: de me]. , h JLib. 11. c. 3.
100 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1 . Sec. %.
nor beans. Yet, to such as will need eat them, I Would give
this counsel; to prepare them according to those rules that
Arnoldus Villanovanus and Frietagius prescribe, for eating
and dressing fruits, herbs, roots, pulse, &e.
Spices. ] Spices cause hot and head melancholy, and are,
for that cause, forbidden by our physicians, to such men as are
inclined to this malady, as pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cloves,
mace, dates, &c. hony and sugar. aSome except hony: to
those that are cold, it may be tolerable ; but b dulcia se in hilem
veriunt ; they are obstructive. Crato therefore forbids all spice
(in a consultation of his for a melancholy schoolmaster) , omnia
aromatica, et quidquid sanguinem admit : so doth Fernelius,
consil. 45 ; Guianerius, tract. 15. c. 2 ; Mercurial is, eons. 189.
To these I may add all sharp and sowre things, luscious, and
over sweet, or fat, as oyl, vinegar, verjuice, mustard, salt; as
sweet things are obstructive, so these are corrosive. Gorriesiiis
(in his book de sale, l. 1. c. 21) highly commends salt ; so do
Codronchus in his tract de sale ah sint Mi,, Lemn. 1. S. c. 9. de
occult, nat. mir. Yet common experience finds salt, and salt-
meats to be great procurers of this disease : and for that cause,
belike, those Egyptian priests abstained from sajt, even sornueh
as in thei r bread, ut sine perturb atione anima esset, saith mine
author— that their souls might be free from perturbation.
Bread.'} Bread that is made of baser gr aits, as pease, beans,
oats, rye, or c over-hard baked, crusty and black, is often
spoken against as causing melancholy Joyce and wind. John
Mayor, in the first book of his History of Scotland, contends
much for the wholesomeness of oaten bread. It Was objected
to him then living at Paris in France, that his countrymen
fed on oats and base grain, as a disgrace ; but he doth ingenu¬
ously confess, Scotland, Wales, and a third part of England,
did most part use that kind of bread ; that if was whofsome
as any grain, and yielded as good nourishment. And yet
Wecker (out of Galen) , calls it horse meat, and fitter for jir-
ments than men to feed on . But read Galen himself, (Lib. 1.
Be eibis boni et malt sued) more largely discoursing of corn
and bread.
Wine.} All black wines, over-hot, compound, strong thick
drinks* as Museadine^ Malmsie, Allegant, Rumny, Brown -
bastard, Metheglen, and the like, of which they have thirty
several kinds in Muscovy — all such made drinks are hurtful
in this case, to such as are hot, or of a sanguine cholerick com-
: a Bright (c. 6.y excepts hony. _ b Hor. apud Scoltzium, consil; 186-. •
comedas crustam, choleram quia gignit adustam, Schol. Sals
101
JVJemb. J. Subs. 2.} Causes of Melancholy.
plexion, young, or inclined to head-melancholy : for many times
the drinking of wine alone causetk it. Arculanus (c. 16. in 0.
Rhasis ) puts in a wine for a great cause, especially if it be im¬
moderately used. Guianerius ( Trac. 15. e. 2) tells a story of two
Dutchmen, to whom he gaye entertainment in his house, that,
b in one months space, werre bothmelanckolg by drinking of wine :
one did nought but sing, the other sigh. Galen (/. de causis
morb. e. 3), Matthiolus (on Dioseorldes) and, above all other,
Andreas Bachius, l. 3. IS, 19, 20) have reckoned upon those
inconveniences, that come by wine. Yet, notwithstanding all
this, to such as are cold,, or sluggish melancholy, a cup of wine
is. good physick ; and so doth Mercurialis grant, consil. 25. In
that case, if the temperature; be cold, as to most melancholy men
it is, wine is mueb commended, if it he moderately used;.
Cider, Perry, i], Cider and Perry are both cold and windy
drinks, and, for that cause, to be neglected ; and so are all
those hot spiced strong drinks..
jBeer.] Beer, if it he oyer new or over stale, over strong, or
not sod, smell of the cask, sharp, or sowr, is most umvholsome,
frets, and gauls, &.c. Henricus Ayrerus, in c a consultation of
his, for one that laboured of hypocondriacal melancholy, dis¬
commends beer ; so doth dCratq (in, that excellent counsel of
his, lib. 2. comitl. 21) as too windy, because of the hop. But
he means, belike, that thick black Bohemian beer used in
some other parts of e Germany,
— - — nil spissius: ili&, ••
Bum bibitur ; nil clarius est/dum mingitur ; unde
Constat, quod muftas faeces, in eorpore linquat— .
Nothing comes, in so thick;
Nothing goes out so thin ; . , .
It must needs, follow, then,;
The drugs, are left within—
as that old f poet scoffed, calling it Stygiwmomtrumconforme
paludi, a monstrous. drink, like the river Styx. But let them
say as they list, to such as are accustomed unto it, ’tis a most
wholsome ("so Poiydbr Virgil calleth it) and a pleasant drinle ;
it is more subtil and bitter for the hop, that rarifies it, and
hath an especial vertue against melancholy, as our herbalists
confess, Fuchsius approves, lib. 2. sect. 2. instit. cap. II. and
many others.
a Vinum tarbidum. b Ex vim patentis bibitione, duoAlemanni in uuo mense
melancholici facti sunt. c Hildesheim, spicil. fol. 273. ^Gfassum generate
sangpinem. e About Dantzick, laspruce, Hamburg, Lypsick. f Henricus;
Abrincensis. gPotus turn salubris turn jucuadus, 1. 1.
102
Clauses of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
Waters.] Standing waters, thick and ill coloured, such as
come forth of pools and motes, where hemp hath been
steeped, or slimy fishes live, are most uhwholsome,putrified,
and full of mites, creepers, slimy, muddy, unclean, corrupt,
impure, by reason of the suns heat, and still standing. They
cause foul distemperatures in the body and mind of man, are
unfit to make drink of, to dress meat with, or to be aused
about men inwardly or outwardly. They are good for many
domestical uses, to wash horses, water cattle, &c. or in time
of necessity, but not otherwise. Some are of opinion, that
such fat standing waters make the best beer, and that seething
doth defecate it, as b Cardan holds (lib. 13. subtil .) it mends
the substance and savour of it ; but it is a paradox. Such
beer may be stronger, but not so whol'some as the other, as
eJobertus truly justifieth, out of Galen, (Paradox, dec. 1,
Paradox. 5) that the seething of such impure waters
doth not purge or purify them. Pliny (lib. 31. c. 3.) is of
the same tenet ; and P. Creseentms, agricult. lib. 1. et lib. 4.
©» 11. et c. 45. Pamphilius Heriiachus, l. 4.de nat. aquarum,
such waters are naught, not to be used, and (by the testi¬
mony of d Galen) breed agues, dropsies, pleurisies, splenetick
and melancholy passions , hurt the eyes , cause a bad tem¬
perature, and ill disposition of the whole body, with bad colour.
This Jobertus stifly maintains, (Paradox, lib. 1. part. 5) that
it causeth bleer eyes, bad colour, and many loathsome diseases
to such as use it. This, which they say, stands with good
reason ; for, as geographers relate, the water of Astracan
breeds worms in such as drink it. eAxius, or (as now called)
Verduri, the fairest river in Macedonia, makes all cattle
black that taste of it. Aliacmou, now Peleca, another stream
in Thessaly, turns cattle most part white, si potui ducas.
I. Aubanus Bohemus referrs that * struma, or poke of the
Bavarians and Styrians, to the nature of their waters, as
8 Munster doth that of the Valesians, in the Alps ; and h Bodine
supposeth the stuttering of some families in Aquitania, about
Labden, to proceed from the same cause, and that the filth
is derived from the water to their bodies. So that they
““that use filthy standing, ill-coloured, thick, muddy water,
must needs have muddy, ill-coloured, impure, and infirm
bodies : and, because the body works upon the mind, they
a Galen. 1. 1. de san. tuend. Oavendae sunt aquae quae ex stagnis hauriuntur, et
quae turbid® et male olentes, &c. *> Innoxium reddit et bene olentem.
c Contendit haeo vitia coctione non emendari. d Lib. de bonitate aquae. Hy-
dropem anget, febres putridas, splenem, tusses ; nocet oeulis ; malum habitum corporis
et colorem. e Mag. Nigritatem inducit, si pecora biberint. f Aqu® ex
nivibus coacte strumosos faciunt. % Cosmog. 1. 3. cap. 36. b Method. ‘
Hist cap. 5. Balbutiunt Labdoni in Aquitania ob aquas; atque hi morbi ab aquis in
corpora derivantur. .. . : . . -- > —
103
Mem. 2. Subs. 2,] Dyet a Cause.
shall have grosser understanding, dull, foggy, melancholy
spirits, and be really subject to all manner of infirmities.
To these noxious simples we may reduce an infinite num¬
ber of compound, artificial made dishes, of which our cooks
afford us a great variety, as taylors do fashions in our apparel.
Such are a puddings stuffed with blood, or otherwise composed,
baked meats, sowced, indurate meats, fryed, and broiled, but¬
tered meats, condite, powdered, and over-dryed, b all cakes,
simnels, buns, cracknels, made with butter, spice, &c. frit¬
ters, pancakes, pies, salsages, and those several sawces, sharp,
or over sweet, of which scientia pbpince, (as Seneca calls it)
hath served those cApician tricks, and perfumed dishies, which
Adrian the Sixth, pope, so much admired in the accounts of his
predecessour Leo decimus; and which prodigious riot and pro-
digality have invented in this age. These do generally ingen¬
der gross humours, fill the stomach with crudities, and all those
inward parts with obstructions. Montanos (consiL 22) gives
instance in a melancholy Jew, that, by eating such tart sawces,
made dishes, and salt meats, with which he was over-much
delighted, became melancholy, and was evil affected. Such
examples are familiar and common.
SUBSECT. II.
Quantity of Dyet a cause.
There is not so much harm proceeding from the substance
it self of meat, and quality of it, in ill-dressing and prepar¬
ing, as there is from the quantity, disorder of time and place,
unseasonable use of it, d intemperance, over-much or over¬
little taking of it. A true saying it is, Dlures crapula quam
gladius; this gluttony kills more than the sword ; this omni -
vorantia , et komicida gula , this all devouring, and murdering
gut. And that of e Pliny is truer ; simple diet is the best :
heaping up of several meats is pernicious, and sawces worse ;
many dishes bring many diseases. f Avicen cryes out, that
aEdulia exsanguine et saffocato parta. Hildesheim. b Cupedia vero pla¬
centa, bellaria, commentaque alia curiosa pistorum et coquorum gustui servientium,
conciliant morbos turn corpori turn animo insanabiles. Philo Judaeus, lib. de vic-
timis. P. Jov. vita ejus. cAs lettice steeped in wine, birds fed with fennel and
sugar, as a popes concubine used in Avignion. Stephan. d Animae negotium
ilia facesstt, et detemplo Dei immundum stabulum facit. Peletius, 10- c. eLib.
U..c. 52. Homini cibus utilissimus simplex; acervatio ciborum pestifera, et con-
dimenta perniciosa ; multos morbos multa fercula ferunt- f 31 Dec 2. c. Ni¬
hil detenus quam si tempus justo longius comedendo protrahatur, et varia ciborum
genera conjuhgantur ; inde morborum scaturigo, -quae ex repugnantia humorum
104
[Part. 1. Sec. 2.
JDyet a Cause.
nothing is worse than to feed on many dishes, or to protract
the time of meals longer than ordinary ; from thence proceed
our infirmities ; and’tis the fountain of all diseases, which
arise out of the repugnancy of gross humours. Thence, saith
a Femelius, comes crudities, wind, oppilations, cacochymia,
plethora, cachexia, bradypepsia: b hinc subitcc mortes, alque
intestata senectus; suddain death, &c. and what not.
As a lamp is choked with a multitude of oyl, or a little
fire with overmuch wood, quite extinguished ; so is the natural
heat, with immoderate eating, strangledin the body. Perni-
ciosa sentina est abdomen insaturabile, one saith — -an insa¬
tiable paunch is a pernicious sink, and the fountain of all dis¬
eases, both of body and mind. c Mercurialis will have it a
peculiar cause of this private disease. Solenander (consol.
sect. 3) illustrates this of Mercurialis, with an example of one
so melancholy, ab intempestivis comissationibus, unseason¬
able feasting. d Crato confirms as much, in that often cited
counsel, 21. lib. 2, putting superfluous eating for, a main cause.
But what need I seek farther for proofs ? Hear e Hippocrates
himself, lib. 2, aphoris. l0. Impure bodies, the, more they
are nourished, the more they are hurt ; for the nourishment is
putrified with vicious humours.
And yet, for all this harm, which apparently follows surfet-
ting and drunkenness, see how we luxuriate and rage in this
kind. Read what Johannes Stuckius hath written lately of
this subject, in his great volumn De Antiquorum Conviviis, and
of our present age : quam f portentosce ccence, prodigious sup¬
pers : g qui, dum invitant ad ccenam, efferunt ad sepulcrum,
what Fagos, Epicures, Apetios, Heliogables our times afford?
Lueullus ghost walks still; and every man desires to sup in
Apollo : iEsops costly dish is ordinarily served up.
- — h Magis ilia juvant, quae pluris emuntur :
the dearest cates are best; and ’tis an ordinary thing to be¬
stow twenty or thirty pound on a dish, some thousand crowns
upon a dinner. 1 Muley-Hamet, king of Fez and Morocco,
spent three pound on the sawce of a capon : it is nothing in
our times : we scorn all that is cheap. We loath the very
k light, (some of us, as Seneca notes) because it comes free ; and
aPath. 1. 1. c. 14. bJuv. Sat. 5. cNimia repletio ciborum facit me-
lajacholicum. d Comestio superflua cibl, et portus quantitas nirnia. e Im¬
pure corpora quanto magis Isedis : putrefacit enim alimentum vitiosus humor.
fVid- Goclen. de portentosis coenis, &c. Puteani Com. s Amb. libj
de Jeja. cap.14. h Juvenal. i Guicciardin. _ k Na. qusest. 4.
ca. ult fastidio est lumen gratuitum ; dolet quod solem, quod spiritum, emere non
possimus, quod hie aer, noe emptos, ex facili, &c. adeo nihil placet, nisi quod ca-
ram est
105
Mem. 2. Subs. 2.] Dyet a Cause.
we are offended with the suns heat, and those cool blasts, be -
cause we buy them not. This air we breath is so common,
we care not for it ; nothing- pleaseth but what is dear. And,
if we be a witty in any thing, it is ad gulam t if we study at
all, it is erudito luxu, to please the palat, and to satisfie the
gut. A cook of old was a base knave (as bLivy complains),
but now a great man in request: cookery is become an art, a
noble science : cooks are gentlemen : venter deus. They
wear their brains in their bellies , and their guts in their
heads, (asc Agrippa taxed some parasites of his time) rushing
on their own destruction, as if a mart should run upon the
point of a sword; usque dum rumpantur, comedunt : dall day,
all night, let the physician say what he will— imminent
danger and feral diseases are now ready to seize upon them—
they will eat till they vomit, ( edunt ut vomant ; vomunt ut
edant, saith Seneca; which Dion relates of Vitellius, Solo
transitu eihorumnutriri judicatus : his meat did pass through,
and away) or till they burst again. e Strage animantium ven-
trem onerani ; and rake over all the world, asso many fslaves,
belly-gods, and land-serpents ; et totus orbis ventri nimis an -
gustus ; the whole world cannot satisfie their appetite. *Sea,
land, rivers, lakes, %-c. may not give content to their raging
guts. To make up the mess, what immoderate drinking
in every place ! Senem potum pota trahebat anus : how they
flock to the tavern ! as if they wer efruges consumer e nati ,
horn to no other end than to eat and drink, (like Offellius Bibu-
lus, that famous Roman parasite, qui, dum vixit, aut Mbit aut
minxii) as so many casks to hold wine ; yea, worse than a
cask, that marrs wines, and it self is not marred by it. Yet these
are brave men ; Silonus ebrius was no braver : et qua fne-
runt vitia, mores sunt : ’tis now the fashion of our times, an
honour : nunc vero res ista eo rediit (as Chrysost. serm. 30.
in 5. Ephes. comment) ut effeminates redendeeque ignaviee
loco habeatur, nolle inebriari ; ’tis now come to that pass,
that he is no gentleman, a very milk- sop, a clown, of no
bringing up, that will not drink, fit for no company : he is
your only gallant that plays if off finest, no disparagement
now to stagger in the streets, reel, rave, &c. but much to his
fame and renown ; as, in like ease, Epidieus told Thesprio his
fellow servant, in the h poet. JEdepol! f acinus improbum,
aIngeniosi ad gulam. b Olim yile mancipium, nunc in omni Eestimati-
one; nunc ars haberi coepta, &c. cEpist. 28. 1. 7. quorum in ventre ingenium,
inpatinis, &c. ^In lacem ccenat Sertorius. e Seneca. fMancipia
gul®, dapes non sapore sed sumptu aestimantes. Seneca, consol, ad Helridium.
% SfBi-ientia guttura satiare non possunt fluvii et maria. iEneas Sylvius, de miser,
curial. h Plautus.
q2
106
[Part. 1. Sec. 2.
Dyet a Cause .
one urged : the other replied, At jam alii focere idem ; erit
illiilla res honori : ’tis now no fault, there be so many brave
examples to bear one out ; ’tis a credit to have a strong brain,
and carry his liquor well : the sole contention, who can drink
most, and fox his fellow soonest. ’Tis the summum bonum of
our tradesmen, their felicity, life and soul, (tantd dulcedine
affectant, saith Pliny, lib. 14. cap. 12, ut magna pars non
aliud vitae pr osmium intellig ant) their chief comfort, to he
merry together in an ale-house or tavern, as our modern Mus¬
covites do in their mede-inns, and Turks in their coffee-houses,
which much resemble our taverns : they will labour hard all
day long, to be drunk at night, and spend totius anni labores
(as St. Ambrose adds) in a tipling feast ^convert day into night,
as Seneca taxeth some in his times, perveriunt qfficia noctis et
lucis ; when we rise, they commonly go to bed, like our An¬
tipodes,
Nosque ubi- primus equis Oriens afflavit anhelis,
Illis sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper.
So did Petronius in Tacitus, Heliogabalus in Lampridius,
1 -= — a Nodes vigilabat ad ipsum
Mane ; diem totum stertebat. — - —
Symdiris the Sybarite never saw the sun; rise or set, so much
as once in twenty years. Verres, against whom Tully so much
inveighs, in winter he never was extra tectum, vix extra
lectum , never almost out of bed, b still wenching, and drink¬
ing ; so did he spend his time, and so did myriads in our d ayes;
They have gymnasia bibonum, schools and rendezvous; these
Centaures and Lapithae toss pots and bowls, as so many balls,
invent new tricks, as salsages, anchoves, tobacco, caveare,
pickled oysters, herrings, fumadoes, &c. innumerable salt-
meats to increase their appetite, and study how to hurt them¬
selves by taking antidotes, c to carry their drink the better :
dand when naught else serves, they will go forth, or be con¬
veyed out, to empty their gorge, that they may return to drink
afresh. They make laws, insanas leges, contra bibendifal-
lacias , and e brag of it when they have done, crowning that
man that is soonest gone, as their drunken predecessours
have done, quid ego video? Ps. Cum corona Pseudo-
lum ehrium tuum ) and, when they are dead, will have a
- aHor. b Diei brevitas conviviis, noctis longitndo stapris, couterebratur.
eEt, quo plus capiant, irritameuta excogitantur. d Foras portantur, ut ad con-
vivium reportentur ; repleri ut exhauriant, et exhaurire ut bibant. Ambros. <=In-
gentia vasa, velut ad ostentationem, &c. f Plautus.
107
Mem. 2. Subs. 2.] Dyet a Cause.
can of wine, with a Marons old woman, to be engraven on
their tombs. So they triumph in villany, and justifie their
wickedness, with Rabelais, that French Lucian, “ drunken¬
ness is better for the body than physick, because there be
more old drunkards, than old physicians.” Many such frothy
arguments they have, b inviting and encouraging others to dp
as they do, and love them dearly for it (no glew like to that
of good fellowship.) So did Alcibiades in Greece, Nero,
Bonosus, Heliogabalus in Rome (or Alegabal us rather, as he
was stiled of old, as c Ignatius proves out of some old coyns) ;
so did many great men still, as d Heresbachius observes,
When a prince drinks till his eyes stare like Bitias in the poet;
• - — (eille impiger hausit
Spumahtem vino pateram) — - - -
and comes off clearly, sound trumpets, fife and drums, the
spectators will applaud him ; the f bishop himself , (if he belye
them not) with Ms chaplain, will stand by, and do as much ;
0 dignum prindpe haustum ! ’twas done like a prince. Our
Dutchmen indite all comers with a pail and a dish : velul in¬
fundibula, integras obbas exhauriunt, et in monstrosis poculis
ipsi monstrosi monstrosius epoiant , making barrels of their
bellies. Incredibile dictu, (as § one of their own country¬
men complains) h quantum liquoris immo destissim a gens ca¬
piat, Sf-c. How they love a man that will be drunk, crown
him and honour him for it, hate him that will not pledge
him, stab him, kill him : a most intolerable offence, and not to
be forgiven. * He is a mortal enemy that will not drink
with him, as Munster relates of the Saxons. So, in Poland,
he is the best servitor, and the honestest fellow, (saith Alex¬
ander Gaguinus) Hhat drinketh most healths to the honour of his
master ; he shall be rewarded as a good servant, and held the
bravest fellow, that carries his liquor best ; when as a brewers
horse will bear much more than any sturdy drinker ; yet, for his
noble exploits in this kind, he shall be accounted a most valiant
jnan; for 1 tarn inter epulas f or tis vir esse potest ac in hello,
as much valour is to be found in feasting, as in fighting ; and
aLib. 3. Anthol. c, 20. b Gratiam conciliant potando. cNotis ad
Cassares. dLib. de educandis principum libertis. eVirg. fIdem
strenni potoris epis'copi sacellanns, cum ingentem pateram exhaarit princeps.
g Bobemus, in Saxonia. Adeo immoderate et immodeste ab ipsis bibitur, ut, in compo -
tationibus suis, non cyatbis solum et eantbaris sat infundere possint, sed impletum
xnnlctrale apponant, etrscntella injecta hortantur quemlibet ad libitum potare. 11 Dictu
incredibile, quantum hujusce liquoris immodesta gens capiat : plus potantem amicissi-
mum habent, et serto coronant, inimicissimum e contra qui non vplt, et csede et fustibus
expiant. • ■ ’ » Qui potare recusat, hostis habetnr ; et c®de nonnumquam res
expiatur. : k Qui melius bibit pro salute doinini, melior habetnr minister.
3 Graec. poeta apud Stobaeum, ser. 18.
108
[Part. 1. Sec. 2.
Dyet a Cause.
some of our city captains, and carpet knights, will make this
good and prove it. Thus they many times wilfully pervert the
good temperature of their bodies, stifle their wits, strangle
nature and degenerate into beasts.
Some again are in the other extream, and draw this mischief
on their heads by too ceremonious and strict diet, being over-
precise, cockney-like, and curious in their observation of
meats, times, asthat Medicina statica prescribes— just so many
ounces at a dinner (which Lessius enjoins), so much at supper;
not a little more, nor a little less, of such meat, and at such
hours ; a dyet drink in the morning, cock-broth, China-broth,
at dinner, plumb-broth, a chicken, a rabbet, rib of a rack of
mutton, wing of a capon, the merry-thought of a hen, &c. —
to sounder bodies, this is too nice and most absurd. Others
offend in over-much fasting ; pininga dayes, (saith aGuianerius)
and waking a nights, as many Moors and Turks in these our
times do. Anchorites , monks, and the rest of that superstitious
rank , (as the same Guianerius witnesseth, that he hath often
seen to have hapned in his time) through immoderate fasting,
have been frequently mad. Of such men, belike, Hippocrates
speaks, (1 Aphor. 5) when as he saith, b they more offend in
too sparing diet, and are worse damnified, than they that feed
liberally and are ready to surfeit .
SUBJECT. III.
Custom of Dyet , Delight , Appetite , Necessity, how they cause
or hinder.
No rule is so general, which admits not some exception ; to
this therefore which hath hitherto been said, (for I shall other¬
wise put most men out of commons) and those inconveniences
which proceed from the substance of meats, an intemperate or
unseasonable use ofthem, custom somewhat detracts, and quali¬
fies, according to that of Hippocrates, 2 Aphoris. 50. c Such
things as we have been long accustomed to, though they be evil
in their own nature, yet they are less offensive . Otherwise it
a Quide diejejunant, et nocte Tigilant, facile cadunt in melanclioliain ; et qui natures
modnm excedunt, c.5.traGt 15.vc._2. Longa famis iolerantia, nt iis saepe acciditqni
ianto cnm fervore Deo servire cnpinnt per jejunium, quod maniac! efficiantur, ipse vidi
saspe. b In tenui -victu agri delinquuit ex quo fit ut majori afficiantur detri-
mento, majorque fit error tenui quam pleniore victn.' c Quae longo tempore
consueta sunt, etiatnsi deteriora. minus in assuetis molestare solent.
109
Mem. 2. Subs. 3.] Causes of Melancholy.
might wellbe objected, that it were a meer atyranny to live after
those strict rules of pbysick ; for custom b doth alter nature it
self ; and to such as are used to them, it makes bad meats whol-
some, and unseasonable times to cause no disorder. Cider and
perry are windy drinks ; (so are allfruits windy in themselves,
cold most part) yet, in some shires of cEngland, Normandy in
France, Guipuscovain Spain, ’tis their common drink ; and they
are no whit offended with it. In Spain , Italy, and Africk, they
live most on roots, raw herbs, camels d milk, and it agrees well
with them ; which to a stranger will cause much grievance. In
Wales, lactidniis vescuntur, (as Humfrey Lluyd confesseth, a
Cambro-Brittain himself, in his elegant epistle to Abralium Qr-
telius) they live most on white meats ; in Holland on fish,
roots, e butter ; and so at this day in Greece, as f Bellonius
observes, they had much rather feed on fish than flesh. With
us, maxima pars vicius in came consistit ; we feed on flesh
most part, (saith §Polydor Virgil) as all northern countreys do;
and it would be very offensive to us to live after their dyet, or
they to live after ours : we drink beer, they wine : they use oyl,
we butter : we in the north are h great eaters, they most sparing
in those hotter countreys : and yet they and we, following our
own customs, are well pleased. An .Ethiopian of old, seeing an
Europaean eat bread, wondered, quomodo stercoribus vescentes
viveremus, how he could eat such kind of meats ; so much
differed his countrey-men from ours in dyet, that (as mine
1 author infers), si quis illorum victum apud nos cemulari vellet;
if any man should so feed, with us, it would be all one to
nourish, as cicuta, aconitum, or hellebor it self. At this day,
in China, the common people live, in a manner, altogether on
roots and herbs ; and, to the wealthiest, horse, ass, mule, dogs,
cat-flesh is as delightsome as the rest : so k Mat. Riccius the
Jesuit relates, who lived many years amongst them. The
Tartars eat raw meat, and most commonly 1 horse-flesh, drink
milk and blood, as the Nomades of old—
a Qui medice vivit, misere vivit. b Consuetudo altera natura. c Here¬
fordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire. d Leo Afer. 1. 1. solo camelorum
lacte contenti, nil prseterea delitiarum ambiunt. e Flandri Vinum butyro dilu-
tnm bibunt (nauseo referens) : ubique butyrum, inter omnia fercula et bellaria, locum
obtinet. Steph. prsefat. Herod. f Delectantur Graeci piscibus magis quam car-
nibus. _ gLib. 1. hist. Aug. _ b P. Jovius descrip. Britonum. They sit,
eat and drink all day at dinner in Island” Muscovy, and those northern parts,
» Saidas, vit. Herod, nihilo cum eo melius quam siquis cicutam, aconitum, &c.
k Erpedit. in Sinas, lib. 1. c. 3. hortensium herbarum et olerum apud Sinas quam
apud nos longe fiequentior usus ; complures quippe de vulgo reperias nulla alia re,
vel tenuitatis vel religionis caussa, vescentes. Equos, mulos, asellos, &c. seque fere .
vescuntur, ac pabula omnia. Mat. Rieeius, lib. 5. c. 13. 1 Tartari mulis, equis
vescuntur, et crudis camibus, et fruges contemnunt, dicentes,hoc jumentorum pabulum
et bourn, non hominum.
no
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
(Et lac concretum cum sanguine potat equino).
They scoff at our Europeans foresting bread, which they call
tops of weeds, and horse-meat, not fit for men ; and yet Scaliger
accounts them a sound and witty nation, living an hundred
years ; even in the civilest countrey of them, they do thus,
as Benedict the Jesuite observed in his travels, from the great
Mogors court by land to Paquin, which Ricci us contends to
be the same with Cainbulu in Cataia. In Scandia, their bread
is usually dry ed fish,andso likewise in the Shetland Isles ; and
their other fare, as in Island, (saith a Dithmarus Bleskenius)
butter, cheese, and fish ; their drink, water, their lodging on the
ground. In America, in many places, their bread is roots,
their meat palmitos, pinas, potatoes, &c. and such fruits. There
be of them, too, that familiarly drink bsalt sea water, all their
lives, eat craw meat, grass, and that with delight : with some,
fish, serpents, spiders; and in divers places they d eat mans
flesh raw, and rested, even the emperour eMetazuma himself.
In some coasts again, f one tree yields them coquernuts, meat
and drink, five-fuel, apparel (with his leaves), oyl, vinegar,
cover for houses, &c. and yet these men, going naked, feeding
coarse, live commonly a hundred years, are seldom or never
sick ; all which dyet our physicians forbid. In Westphaling,
they feed most part on fat meats and wourts, knuckle-deep,
and call it % cerebrum Jovis; in the Low Countreys, with
roots; in Italy, frogs and snails are used. The Turks, saith
Busbequius, delight most in fryed meats. In Muscovy, garliek
and onions are ordinary meat and sauce, . which would be
pernicious to such as are unaccustomed to them,delightsometo
others ; and all is hbecause they have beep brought up unto it.
Husbandmen, and such as labour, can eat fat bacon, salt gross
meat, hard cheese, &c. (O dura messorum ilia /) coarse bread
at all times, go to bed and labour upon a full stomach ; which
to some idle persons would be present death, and is against the
rules of physick ; so that custom is all in all. Our travellers
1 find this by common experience : when they come in far coun¬
treys, and use their dyet, they are suddenly offended ; as our
Hollanders and Englishmen, when they touch upon the coasts
of Africk, those Indian capes and islands, are commonly mo-
aIslandi® descriptione. Victus eorum butyro, lacte, caseo consistit : pisces loco
panis habent: potus aqua, aut serum ; sic vivunt sine mediciua multi ad annos 200.
b Laet. Occident. Incf. dscrip. 1. II. c. 10. Aquam roarinam bibere sueti absque noxa.
'Davies second voyage. dPatagones. e Benzo et Fer. Cortesins, lib; novns
orbis inscrip. t'Linscoften, c. 58. palm® instar, totins orbis arboribus longe
praestantior. ? Lips. ep. h Teneris assuescere multum. > Bepentinae
mutationes noxam pariunt. Hippocrat. aphorism. 21. ep, 6. sect. 3.
Ill
Mem. 2. Subs. 3.] Causes of Melancholy.
lested with calentures, fluxes, and much distempered by rea¬
son of their fruits. a Peregrina, etsi suavia, solent vessentibus
perturb ationes insignes adferre; strange meats, though plea¬
sant, cause notable alterations and distempers. On the other
side, use or custom mitigates or makes all good again. Mi-
thri dates, by often use, (which Pliny wonders at) was able to
drink poyson ; and a maid, (as Curtius records) sent to Alex¬
ander from king Porus, was brought up with poyson from
her infancy. The Turks (saith Bellonius, lib. 3. cap. 15)
eat opium familiarly, a dram at once, which we dare not take
in grains. bGarcius ab Horto writes of one whom he saw at
Goa in the East Indies, that took ten drams of opium in three
dayes; and yet consulto loquebatur, spake understandingly ;
so much can custom do. c Theophrastus speaks of a shepherd
that could eat hallebor in substance. And therefore Cardan
concludes (out of Galen) consuetudinem utcunque ferendam,
nisi valde malam ; custom is howsoever to be kept, except it be
extreme bad. He adviseth all men to keep their old customs,
and that by the authority of d Hippocrates himself; dandurn
aliquid tempori, cstati, regioni, comuetudini, and therefore
to e continue as they began, be it diet, bath, exercise, &c. or
whatsoever else.
Another exception is delight, or appetite to such and such
meats. Though they be hard of digestion, melancholy; yet
as (Fuchsius excepts, cap. 6. lib. Instit. sect. 2) f the stomach
doth readily digest, and willingly entertain such meats we love
most, and are pleasing to us, abhors on the other side such, as
we distaste; which Hippocrates confirms Aphoris. 2. 38.
Some cannot endure cheese, out of a secret antipathy, or sei
a roasted duck, which to others is a g delightsome meat.
The last exception is necessity, poverty, want, hunger, which
drives men many times to do that which otherwise they are
loath, cannot endure, and thankfully to accept of it; asbeverage
in ships, and, in sieges of great cities, to feed on dogs, cats, rats,
and men themselves. Three out-law7s, in h Hector Boethius,
being driven to their shifts, did eat raw flesh, and flesh of such
Fowl as they could catch, in one of the Hebrides, for some few
moneths. These things do mitigate or disannul that which hath
been said of melancholy meats, and make it more tolerable ;
but, to such as are wealthy, live plenteously, at ease, may
take their choice, and refrain if they will, these wiands are
a Broerinus, 1. 1. c. 23. b Simpl. med. c. 4. 1. 1. cHenrnias, 1. 3.
c. 19. prax. med. d Aphoris. 17. e In dubiis consuetudinem sequa-
tiir adoiescens, etin cceptis perseveret. f Qui com voluptate assnmuntnr cibi,
yentricuius avidius complectitur,- expedjtiusqtje concoqoit ; et, quae displicent, aver-
satur. s N othing against a good stomach, as the saying is. h Lib. 7\
Hist. Scot.
112 Retention and Evacuation, Causes. [Part, 1. Sec, 2.
to be forborn, if they be inclined to or suspect melancholy,
as they tender their healths ; otherwise, if they be intempe¬
rate, or disordered in their dyet, at their peril be it, Qui
monet, amat. Ave , et cave .
SUBSECT. IV.
Retention and Evacuation a cause, and how.
Of retention and evacuation there be divers kinds,' which
are either concomitant, assisting, or sole causes many times
of melancholy. a Galen reducefh defect and abundance to
this head ; others, b all that is separated or remains.
Costiveness .] In the first rank of these, I may well reckons
up costiveness, and keeping in of our ordinary excrements,
which, as it often causeth other diseases, so this of melancholy
in particular. c Celsus (lib. 1. cap. 3) saith it producetk
inflammation of the head, dulness, cloudiness, head-ack, fyc.
Prosper CalenUs (lib. de atra bile) will have it distemper
not the organ only, d but the mind it self by troubling of it;
and sometimes it is a sole cause of madness, as you may read
in the first book of e Skenkius his Medicinal Observations. A,
young merchant, going to Nordeling fair in Germany, for ten
dayes space never went to stool ; at his return, he was grievously
melancholy, f thinking that he was robbed, and would not be
perswaded, but that all his money was gone. His friends
thought that he had some philtrum given him: butCnelinus,
^ physician, being sent for, found his g costiveness alone to be
the cause, and thereupon gave him a clister, by which he was
speedily recovered. Trincavellius ( consult . 35. lib. 1) saith as
much of a melancholy lawyer, to whom he administered phy-
sick ; and Rodericus a Fonseca (consult. 85. tom. 2.) h of a pa¬
tient of his, that for eight dayes was bound, and therefore me¬
lancholy affected. Other retentions and evacuations there are,
not simply necessary, but at some times j as Fernelius accounts
them, (Path. lib. 1. cap. 15 ) as suppression of emrods, mo-
nethly issues in women, bleeding at nose, immoderate, or no
use at all of Yenus; or any other ordinary issues.
1 Detention of emrods, or monethly issues, Villanovanus
(Breviar. lib. 1. cap. 18) Arculanus,(cap. 16. in. 9* Rasis) Vit-
torius Faventinus, ( pract . mag. Tract. 2. cap. 15) Bruel, &c.
a 30. artis. b Quae excemuntur aut subsisted. c Ex ventre snppresso,
inflammationes, capitis dolores, caligines, crescunt. d Excrementa retenta men¬
tis agitationem parere solent e Cap.-de mel. fTam delirus, ntvix se .
hominem agnosceret. gAlvus astrictus caussa. h Per octo dies alvum
siccum habet, et nibil reddit, > Sive per nares, sive hsemorrhoides.
Mem. 2. Subs. 4. Retention and Evacuation, Causes. 113
put for ordinary causes. Fuchsias (/. 2. sect. 5. c. 30) goes
farther, and saith, a that many men, unseasonably cured of the
emrods, have been corrupted with melancholy ; seeking to
avoid Scylla, they fall into Charybdis. Galen {l. de hum.
commen. S, ad text. 26) illustrates this by an example of Lu¬
cius Martius, whom he cured of madness, contracted by this
means ; and b Skenkius hath other two instances of two me¬
lancholy and mad women, so caused from the suppression of
their moneths. The same may be said of bleeding at the
nose, if it be suddenly stopt, and have been formerly used, as
c Villanovanus urgeth ; and d Fuchsius {Mb. 2. sect. 5. cap. 33)
stilly maintains, that without great danger, such an issue may
not be stayed.
Venus omitted produceth like effects. Matthiolus ( epist.5 .
1. penult.) e avoucheth of his knowledge, that some through
bashfulness abstained from venery, and thereupon became very
heavy and dull; and some others ,, that were very timorous,
melancholy, and beyond all measure sad. Oribasius (JWed.
Collect. 1. 6. c. 37) speaks of some, f That, if they do not
use carnal copulation , are continually troubled with heaviness
and head-ach; and some in the same case by intermission of it.
Not use of it hurts many ; Areulanus (e, 6. in 9. Rasis ) and
Magninus {part. 3. cap. 5) think, because g it sends up poi¬
soned vapours to the brain and heart. And so doth Galen
himself hold, that if this natural seed be over-long kept (in
some parties ) it turns to poison. Hieronymus Mercurialis, in
his chapter of Melancholy, cities it for an especial cause of this
malady, h priapismus, satyriasis , fye. Haliafebas (5 Theor . c.
36) reckons up this and many other diseases. Villanovanus
( Breviar. 1. 1. c. 18 ) saith he knew 1 many monks and
widows, grievously troubled with melancholy , and that from
this sole cause. kLudovicus Mercatus (l. 2. de mulierum af¬
fect. cap. 4) and Bodericus a Castro (de morbius mulier. 1. 2.
c. 3) treat largely of this subject, and will have it produce a
peculiar kind of melancholy, in stale maids, nuns, and widows,
db suppressionem mensium et Venerem omissam,timidce, moestoe,
a Multi, intempestive ab hsemorrhoidibus curati, melancholia correpti sunt, lncidit
in Scyllam, &c. bLib. 1. de Mania cBreviar 1. 7. c. 18. dNon sine
magno incommodo ejus, cui sanguis, a naribus promanat, noxii sanguinis vacuatio im-
pediri potest. e Novi quosdam, pr® pudore a coitu abstinentes, torpidos pi-
grosque factos ; nonnullos etiam melaneholicos prseter modum moestos, timidosque.
f Nonnulli, nisi coeant, assidue capitis gravitate infestantur. Dicit se novisse quos-
dam tristes, et ita factos ex intermissione Veneris'. .S Vapores venenatos mittit
sperma ad cor et cerebrum. Sperm a, plus diu re ten turn, transit invenenum. hGraves
producit corporis et animi mgritudines. *Ex spermate supra modum retento,
monachos et vidaas melaneholicos ssepe fieri vidi. ^Melancholia, orta a vasis
seminariis in utero.
1 14 Retention and Evacuation, Causes. [Part 1. Sec. 2.
anxive, verecundce, suspiciosce , languentes, consilii inopes, cum
summd vitce et rerum meliorum desperatione, fyc. they are me¬
lancholy in the highest degree, and all for want of husbands.
./Eli ami, Montaltus {cap. 3 7- de melanchol.) confirms as much
out of Galen; so doth Wierus. Christophorus a Vega {de
art med. lib. 3. cap. 14) relates many such examples of men
and women, that he had seen so melancholy. Felix Plater,
in the first book of his Observations, a tells a story of an
antient gentleman in Alsatia , that married a young wife, and
was not able to pay his debts in that kind for a long time to¬
gether, by reason of his several infirmities. But she, because
of this inhibition of Venus , fell into a horrible fury, and
desired every one that came to see her, by words, looks, and
gestures, to have to do with her, Sfc. ' bBernardus Paternus,
a physician, saith, he knew a good honest godly priest, that,
because he would neither willingly marry , nor make use of the
stews, fell into grievous melancholy fits. Hildesheim {spidl.
2) hath such another example of an Italian melancholy
priest, in a consultation had anno 1580. Johon Pratensis
gives instance in a married man, that, from his wifes death
abstaining, Rafter marriage became exceeding melancholy:
Bodericus a Fonseca, in a young mansomis-afFected, tom. 2.
consult. 85. To these you may add, if you please, that con¬
ceited tale of a Jew, so visited in like sort, and so cured, out
of Poggius Florentinus.
Intemperate Venus is, all out, as bad in the other extream.
Galen {l. 6, de morbis popular, sect. 5. text. 26) reckons up
. melancholy amongst those diseases which are d exasperated
by venery: so doth Avicenna, (2. 3. c. 11) Oribasius, {loc.
citat.) Ficinus, {lib. 2. de sanitate, tuendd) Marsiiius Cogna-
tus, Montaltus, (cap. 27) Guianerius, {Tract. 3. cap. 2.) Mag-
minus, {cap. 5. part. 3) e gives the reason, because fit infri-
gidates and dr yes up the body, consumes the spirits; and would
therefore have all such as are cold and dry , to take heed of
and to avoid it as a mortal enemy. Jaechinus {in 9. Basis ,
cap. 15) ascribes the same cause, and instanceth in a patient
of his, that married a young wife in a hot summer, g and so
aNobilis senex Alsatus javenem uxorem duxit: at ille, colico dolore et multis
morbis correptus, non potuit prsestare officium mariti, vix inito matrimonio aegrotus.
Ilia in horrendum furorem incidit, ob Ve'nerem coliibitam, ut omnium earn invisentium
congressum, voce vultu, gestu, expeteret : et quum non consentirent, molossos Angli-
canos magno expetiit clamore. b Yidi sacerdotem optimum et piiim, qui, qued
nollet uti Yenere, in melancholica symptomata incidit. c Ob abstinehtiam a
concubitu incidit in melancholiam. dQuse a coiru exacerbantur. eSuperflutun
coitum caussam ponunt. f Exsiccat corpus, spiritus consumit, &c- caveantab hoc
sicci, velut inimico mortali. S Ita exsiccatus, ut e melancholico statim fuerit
insanus ; ab humectantibus curatus.
Mem. 2. Subs. 4.] Retention and Evacuation, Causes. 11-5
dryed himself with chamber-work, that he became, in short
space, from melancholy, mad : be cured him by moistning
remedies. The like example I find in Lselius a Fonte Eugubi-
nus, ( consult . 129) of a gentleman of Venice, that, upon the
same occasion, was first melancholy, afterwards mad. Read
in him the story at large.
Any other evacuation stopped will cause it, as well as
these above named, be it bile, a ulcer, issue, &c. Hercules
de Saxonia, (lib. 1. cap. 16) and Gordonius, verifie this out of
their experience. They saw one wounded in the head, who,
as long as the sore was open, lucida habuit mentis intervalla,
was well ; but, when it was stopped, rediit melancholia, his
melancholy fit seized on him again.
Artificial evacuations are much like in effect, as hot-houses,
bath, blood-letting, purging, unseasonably and immoderately
used. b Baths dry too much, if used in excess, be they natural
or artificial, and offend, extream hot or cold ; cone dries, the
other refrigerates, over- much. Montanus (consil. 137) saith
they over-heat the liver. Joh. Struthius (Stigmat. artis, l. 4
c. 9) contends, d that if one stay longer than ordinary at the
bath, go in too oft, or at unseasonable times, he putrifes the
humours in his body. To this purpose writes Magninus (7. 3.
c. 5). Guiauerus (Tract. 15 c. 21) utterly disallows all hot
baths in melancholy adust. e I saw (saith he) a man that
laboured of the gout, who, to be freed of his malady, came to the
, bath, and was instantly cured of his disease , but got another
worse, and that was madness. But this judgement varies, as
the humour doth in hot or cold. Baths may be good for one
melancholy man, bad for another : that which will cure it in
this party, may cause it in a second.
Phlebotomy .] Phlebotomy, many times neglected, may do
much harm to the body, when there is a manifest redundance
of bad humours and melancholy blood; and when these
humours beat and boyl, if this be not used in time, the parties
affected, so inflamed, are in great danger to be mad ; but if it
be unadvisedly, importunely, immoderately, used, it doth as
much harm by refrigerating the body, dulling the spirits, and
consumingthem. As Job. f Curio, in his tenth chapter, well re¬
prehends, such kind of letting blood doth more hurt than good;
g the humours rage much more than they did before ; and is
so far from avoiding melancholy, that it increaseth it, and
aEx cauterio et ulcere exsiccato. b Gord. c. 10. lib. 1. discommends cold
baths, as noxious. c Siccum reddunt corpus. d Si quis longius moretur
in iis, aut nimis frequenter aut importune utatur, humores putrefacit. eEgo
anno superiore quamdam guttosum vidi adustum, qui, ut liberaretur de gutta, ad
balnea accessit, et, de gutta liberatus, maniacus factus est. _ fOn Sehola
Salernitana. sCalefactio et ebullitio per vense incisionem magis saspe incitatur
et augetur ; majore impetu humores per corpus discnrrunt.
116
Bad Air, a Cause, [Part 1. Sec. 2
weakneth the sight. aProsper Calenus observes as much of ail
phlebotomy, except they keep a very good diet after it ; yea
and as b Leonartus Jacchinus speaks out of his own experience,,
c the blood is much blacker to many men after their letting
of blood than it was at first. For this cause, belike Sallust.
Salvinianus ( l . 2. c. 1) will admit or hear of no blood-letting
at all in this disease, except it be manifest it proceeds from
blood. He was (it appears, by his own words in that place)
master of an hospital of mad men, d and found by long expe¬
rience, that this kind of evacuation, either in head, arm , or any
other part , did more harm than good. To this opinion of his
e Felix Plater is quite opposite : though some wink at, disallow ,
and quite contradict, all phlebotomy in melancholy , yet by long
experience I have found innumerable so saved; after they had
been twenty, nay, sixty times let blood, and to live happily after
it. It was an ordinary thing of old, in Golems time, to take at
once from such men six pound of blood, which we now dare
scarce take in ounces : sed viderint medici: great books are
written of this subject.
Purging upward and downward, in abundance of bad hu¬
mours omitted, may be for the worst ; so likewise, as in the pre¬
cedent, if over-much, too frequent or violent, it f weakneth
their strength, saith Fuchius (l. 2. sect . 2. c - 17) ; or, if they be
strong or able to endure physiek, yet it brings them to an ill
habit ; they make their bodies no better than apothecaries
shops ; this, and such like infirmities, must needs follow.
SUBSECT.' V. '
Bad Air a cause of Melancholy. .
Air is a cause of great moment, in producing this or any
other disease, being that it is still taken into our bodies by
respiration, and our more inner parts. § If it he impure and
foggy, it dejects the spirits, and causeth diseases by infection
of the heart, as Paul us hath it (lib. I. e. 49.) Avicenna,
(L 1) Gal. (de san tuendd), Mercurialis, Montaltus, &c.
hFernelius saith, a thick air thickneth the blood and hu-
a Lib. de flatnlenta Melancholia. Frequens sanguinis missio corpus extennat.
bIn9Rhasis. Atram bilem parit, et visum debilitat. c Multo nigrior spec¬
tator sanguis post dies quosdam, qnam fuit ab initio. <5 Non laudo eos qui in
desipientia docent secandam esse venam frontis, quia spiritus debilitate inde, et ego
longa experientia observavi in proprio xenodochio, quod disipientes ex phlebotoinia
magis lssduntur, et magis desipiunt : et melancholic! ssepe fiunt inde pejores. e De
mentis alienat. cap. 3. etsimultos hoc improb&sse sciam, innnmeros hac ratione sanatos
longa observatione cognoyi, qni vigesies, sexagies venas tundendo, &c. f Vires
debilitat. g lmpurus aer spiritus dejicit : infecto corde gignit morbos. hSan-
117
Mem, 2. Subs. 5.] Causes of Melancholy.
mours. a Lemnius reckons up two main things, most protit-
able and most pernicious to our bodies — air and diet : and
this peculiar disease nothing sooner causetk (b Juberius holds)
than the air wherein we breathe and live. c Such as is the
air, such be our spirits; and, as our spirits, such are our hu¬
mours. It offends, commonly, if it be too d hot and dry,
thick, fuliginous, cloudy, blustering, or a tempestuous air.
Bodine (in his fifth book de repub . cap. 1 . 5. of his
Method of History) proves that hot countreys are most trou¬
bled with melancholy, and that there are therefore in Spain,
Africk, and Asia Minor, great numbers of mad men, inso¬
much, that they are compelled, in all cities of note, to build
peculiar hospitals for them. Leo e Afer (lib. 3- de Fessd urhe),
Ortelius, and Zuinger, confirm as much. They are ordinarily
so cholerick in their speeches, that scarce two words pass
without railing or chiding in common talk, and often quarrel¬
ling in their streets. f Gordonius will have every man take
notice of it. Note this (saith he) that in hot countreys, it
is far more familiar than in cold : although this we have now
said he not continually so ; for, as § Acosta truly saith, under
the aequator it self, is a most temperate habitation, wholsom
air, a paradise of pleasure : the leaves ever green, cooling-
showres. But it holds in such as are intemperately hot, as
h Johannes a Meggen found in Cyprus, others in Malta,
Apulia, and the 1 Holy Land, where, at some seasons of the
year, is nothing but dust, their rivers dryed up, the air scorch¬
ing hot, and earth inflamed ; insomuch that many pilgrims,
going barefoot, for devotion sake, from Joppa to Jerusalem
upon the hot sands, often run mad, or else quite overwhelmed
with sand, profundis arekis, as in many parts of Africk,
Arabia Deserta, Bacfriana, now Charassan, when the west
wind blows, kinvoluti arenis transeuntes necantur. 1 Her¬
cules de Saxonia, a professor in Venice, gives this cause, why
so many Venetian women are melancholy, quod diu sub sole
degant , they tarry too long in the sun. Montanus (consil. 21),
amongst other causes, assigns this, why that Jew his patient was
mad, quod tarn multum exposuit se calori et frigori • he ex¬
posed himself so much to heat and cold. And, for that reason,
aLib. 3. cap. 3. b Lib. de quartana. Ex aere ambiente contrahitur humor
melancholicus. c Qualis aer, talis spiritus ; et cujusmodi spiritus, humores. ,
diElianus Montaltus, c. 11. calidus et siccus, frigidus et siccus, paludinosus, crassus.
e Malta hie in xenodoebiis fanaticorum millia, quae strictissime catenata servantur.
J Lib. med. part. 2. c.19. Intellige, quod in calidis regionibus frequenter accidit-
mania, in frigidis autem tarde. S Lib,. 2. h Hodopericon, c. 7. *Apulia
asstivo calore maxime fervet, ita ut ante finem Maii pene exusta sit. k Maginus
Pers. iPantheo, seuPract. med. 1; l. c. 16. Venetse mulieres, qu® diu sub
sole vivunt, aliquando melancholic® evadunt.
118
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec 2.
in Venice there is little stirring in those brick-paved streets in
summer about noon; they are most part then asleep ; as they
are likewise in the great Mogors countreys, and all over the
East Indies. At Aden, in Arabia, as aLodovicus Vertomannus
relates in his travels, they keep their markets in the night,
to avoid extremity of heat; and in Ormus, like cattle in a pas¬
ture, people of ail sorts lye up to the chin in water all day long.
At Braga in Portugal, Burgos in Castile, Messina, in Sicily,
all over Spain and Italy, their streets are most part narrow, to
avoid the sun-beams. The Turks wear great turbans, ad/it-
gandos solis radios, to refract the sun beams; and much in¬
convenience that hot air of Bantam in Java yields to our
men, that sojourn there for traffiek ; where it is so hot, bihat
they that are sick of the pox, lye commonly bleaching in. the
sun , to dry up their sores. Such a complaint I read of those
Isles of Cape Verde, fourteen degrees from the sequator : they
do male audire : c one calls them the unhealthiest clime of
the world, for duxes, fevers, frenzies, calentures, which com¬
monly seize on sea-faring men that touch at them, and all by
reason of a hot distemperature of the air. The hardiest men
are offended with this heat; and stiffest clowns cannot resist
it, as Constantine affirms, Agricult. 1 2. c. 45. They that are
natural ly born in such air, may not dendure it, as Niger records
of some part of Mesopotamia, now called Diarbecha ; qui-
busdam in locis scevienti cestu adeo subjecta est , ut pier ague
animalia fervore solis et cedi extinguantur ; ’tis so hot there
in some places, that men of the countrey and cattle are killed
with it ; and Adricomius, of eArabia Felix, by reason of myrrhe,
frankincense, and hot spices there growing, the air is so ob¬
noxious to their brains, that the very inhabitants at some
times cannot abide it, much less weaklings and strangers.
lAnatus Lusitanus (cent. 1. curat. 45) reports of a young maid,
that was one Vincent a curriers daughter, some thirty years of
age, that would wash her hair in the heat of the day (in July}
and so let it dry in the sun, § to make it yellow ; but by that
means, tarrying too long in the heat , she inflamed her head,
and made her self mad.
Cold air, in the other extream, is almost as bad as hot ; and
so doth Montaltus esteem of it, (c. 11) if it be dry withal. In those
northern countreys the people are therefore generally dull
a Navig. 1. 2. c. 4. commercia nocte, hora secunda, ob nirnios, qui sseviunt interdiu,
aestus, exercent. b Morbo Gallico laborantes exponunt ad solera, ut morbos
exsiccent. c Sir Rich. Haukins, in his Observations, sect. 13 d Hippo¬
crates, 3. Aphorismorum, idem ait. e Idem Maginus in Persia { Descrip.
Ter. sanct. _ % Quum ad solis radios in leone Iongam moram traheret, ut capillos
flavos redderet, in maniam incidit.
119
Hem. 2. Subs. 5.] Bad Air, a Cause.
heavy, ancl many witches ; which (as I have before quoted)
Saxo Grammaticus, Olaus, Baptista Porta, ascribe to melan¬
choly. But these cold climes are more subject to natural me¬
lancholy (not this artificial) which is coldand dry : for which
cause aMercurius Britannicus, belike, puts melancholy men to
inhabit just under the pole. The worst of the three is a b thick,
cloudy, misty, foggy air, or such as comes from fens, moorish
grounds, lakes, muckhills, draughts, sinks, where any car-
kasses, or carrion lyes, er from whence any stinking fulsom
smell comes. Galen, Avicenna, Mercurialis, new and old phy¬
sicians, hold that such air is unwholsom, and ingenders me¬
lancholy, plagues, and what not. c Alexandretta, an haven
town in the Mediterranean sea, Saint John de TJIlua, an haven
in Nova-Hispania, are much condemned for a bad air, so as
Durazzo in Albania, Lithuania, Ditmarsh, Pomptinse paludes
in Italy, the territories about Pisa, Ferrara, &c. Rumney marsh
with us, the hundreds in Essex, the fens in Lincolnshire.
Cardan {de rerum varietate, l, 17. c. 96) finds fault with the
site of those rich and most populous cities in the Low Coun¬
treys, as Bruges, Gant, Amsterdam, Leyden, Utrecht, &c.
the air is bad, aiid so at Stockholm in Sweden, Regium in
Italy, Salisbury with us, Hull and Lin. They may be com¬
modious for navigation, this new kind of fortification, and
many other good necessary uses ; but are they so wholsom?
Old Rome hath descended from the hills to the valley ; ’tis
the site of most of our new cities, and held best to build iu
plains, to take the opportunity of rivers. Leander Albertus
pleads hard for the air and site of Venice, though the black
moorish lands appear at every low water. The sea, fire, and
smoke, (as he thinks) qualifie the air ; and d some suppose
that a thick foggy air helps the memory, as in them of Pisa
in Italy ; and our Cambden (out of Plato) commends the site
of Cambridge, because it is so near the fens. But, let the site
of such places be as it may, how can they be excused that
have a delicious seat, a pleasant air, and all that nature can
afford, and yet, through their own nastiness and sluttishness,
immund ana sordid manner of life, suffer their air to putrifie,
and themselves to be choked up ? Many cities in Turkey do
male audire in this kind ; Constantinople it self, where com¬
monly carryon lyes in the street. Some find the same fault
in Spain, even in Madrit, the kings seat, a most excellent
air, a pleasant site ; but the inhabitants are slovens, and the
streets uncleanly kept.
aMundus alter et idem, seu Terra Australis incognita. *> Crassus, et turbidus
aer tristem efficit animam. c Commonly called Scandarone. in Asia Minor.
^ Atlas Geographicus. Memoria valent Pisani, quod crassiore frnantur aere.
VOL. I R
120
Causes of Melancholy. k .[Part 1. Sec. 2.
A troublesom tempestuous air is as bad as impure ; rough
and foul weather, impetuous winds, cloudy dark dayes, as it
is commonly with us : caelum visufcedum , aPolydore calls it
— a filthy sky, et in quo facile generantur nubes ; as Tallies
brother Quintus wrote to him in Rome* being then qutestor
in Britain. In a thick and cloudy air, (saith Lemnius) men
are tetrick, sad, and peevish : and if the western winds blow,
and that therebe a calm, or a fair sunshine day, thereis akind
of alacrity in mens minds ; it cheers up men and beasts, but if
it be a turbulent , rough * cloudy, stormy weather, men are sad,
lumpish, and much dejected , angry, waspish, dull , and melan¬
choly. This was b Virgils experiment of old,
Verum, ubi tempestas, et creli mobilis humor,
Mutavere vices, et Jupiter humidus Austro — •
Vertuntur species animorum, et pectora niotus
Concipiunt alios — — - -
But when the face of heaven changed is
To tempests, rain, from season fair.
Our minds are altered* and in our breasts
Forthwith some new conceits appear.
and who is riot weather-wise against such and such conjunc¬
tions of planets, muved in foul weather, dull and heavy in such
tempestuous seasons ? c Gelidum contristat Aquarius annum, ;
_ the time requires and the autumn breeds it ; winter is like
unto it, ugly, foul, squalid ; the air works on all men, more or
less, but especially on such as are melancholy, or inclined
to it, -as Lemnius holds : d they are most moved with it ; and
those which are already mad, rave downright, either in or
against a tempest. Besides , the devil many times takes his
opportunity of such storms ; and, when the humours by the air
be stirred, he goes on with them, exagitates our spirits, and
vexeth our souls ; as the sea-waves, so are the spirits, and hu¬
mours in our bodies tossed with tempestuous winds and storms.
To such as are melancholy therefore, Moutanus (consii. 24)
will have tempestuous and rough air to be avoided, and (con-
sil. 27) all night air, and would not have them to walk abroad,
but in a pleasant day. Lemnius (lib. 3. cap. 3) discommends
the south and eastern winds, commends the north. Montanus
a lib. f. lust. lib. 1. cap. 41. Aura densa ac caliginosa tetrici homines existent, et
subtristes. Et. cap. 3. Flante snbsolano et Zephyro, maxima in mentibus honunum
alacritas existit, mentisque erectio, ubi coelam solis splendore nitescit. Maxima de-
jectio moerorque, siqaando aora caliginosa est. b Geor. c Hor.
d Mens quihus vacillat, ab aere ,cito offenduntur ; et multi insani apud Belgas ante
tempestates sasyiunt, aliter qnieti. Spiritus quoque aeris, et mali genii, aliquando se
tempestatibus ingerunt, et menti human® se latenter insinuate, eamque vexant, ex-
agitant : et, ut fluctus marini, humanum corpus ventis agitatur.
Mem. 2. Subs, 6.] Idleness a Cause. 121
(consil. *31) ■* will not any windows to be opened in the night :
(consil. 229. et consil. 230) he discommends especially the south
wind, and nocturnal air : so doth b Plutarch : the night and
darkness makes men sad; the like do all subterranean vaults,
dark houses in caves and rocks ; desert places cause melan¬
choly in an instant, especially such as have not been used to
it, or otherwise accustomed. Read more of air in Hippocrates,
Aetius, lib. 3. ac. 171. ad 175. Ofibasius, d c. 1. ad 22.
Aviceu. 1. 1. can. Fen. 2, doc. 2. Fen. 1, c. 123. to the 12, &c.
SUBSECT. VI.
Immoderate Exercise a Cause, and how. So litariness,- Idleness.
Nothing so good, but it may be abused. Nothing better
than exercise (if opportunely used) for t he preservation of the
body : nothing so bad, if it be unseasonable, violent, or Over¬
much. PerneliuS (Out of Galen, Path. lib. 1 . cap. 16) saith,
c that much exercise and weariness consumes the spirits and
substance, refrigerates the body : and such humours which
nature would have otherwise concocted and expelled, it stirs
up, and makes them rage; which being so enraged, diversely
affect and trouble the body and mind. So doth it, if it be Un¬
seasonably used, upon a full stomach, or when the body is
full of crudities, which Fuchsias so much inveighs against,
(Ini). 2. instit. sect. 2. Cap 4) giving that for a cause/why ^school¬
boys in' Germany are so often scabbed, because they use ex¬
ercise presently after meats. d Bayerus puts in a caveat
against such exercise, because it e corrupts the meat in the
stomach , and carries the same juice raw , and as yet Undigested ,
into the Veins (saith Lemnius): which t her eputrijies, and con¬
founds the animal spirits. Crato (consil. 21 . 1. 2.) 1 protests
against all such exercise after meat, as being the greatest
enemy to concoction that may be, and cause of corruption of
humours, which produce this and many other diseases. Not
without gOod reason then, doth Sallust, Salvianus (l. 2. c. 1),
and Leonartus Jacchinus (in 9 Rhasis ), Mercurialis, Arcula-
nus, and many other, set down g immoderate exercise as a
most forcible eause of melancholy.
aAer no'ctu densatar, etcogit moestitiam. b Lib, de Iside et Osiride.
c Multa defatigatio spiritus> viriumque substantiam, exhaurit, et corpus refrigerat. Hu-
mores corruptos, qui aliter a natura concoqui et domari possint, et demum blande ex-
cludi, irritat, et quasi in furoremagit, qui postea (mota Camarina) tetro rapore corpus
varie lacessunt, animumque. 4 In veni mecum, Libro sic inscripto. c Instit.
ad vit. Christ, cap. 44. Cibos crudos in venas rapit, qui putrescentes illic spiritus ani¬
mates inficiunt. f Crudi hsec humoris copia per venas aggeritur ; unde morbi
multiplices." s Immodicum exercitium.
122 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1, Sec, 2.
Opposite to exercise is idleness (the badge of gentry), or
want of exercise, the bane of body and mind, the nurse of
naughtiness, step-mother of discipline, the chief author of all
mischief, one of the seven deadly sins, and a sole cause of this
and many other maladies, the devils cushion, (as a Gualter
calls it) his pillow and chief reposal ; for the mind can never
rest,- hut still meditates on one thing or other : except it be
occupied about some honest business, of his own accord it
rusheth into melancholy. b As too much and violent exercise
offends on the one side, so doth an idle life on the other (saith
Crato): it fills the body full of fiegm, gross humours , and all
manner of obstructions, rheums, catarrhs, Sfc. Rhasis (cont.
lib. 1. tract. 9) accounts of it as the greatest cause of melan¬
choly. C J have often seen, (saith he) that idleness begets this
humour more than any thing else. Montaltus (c. 1.) seconds
him out of his experience : d they that are idle are far more
'■ subject to melancholy, than such as are conversant or employed
about any office or business. . e Plutarch reckons up idleness
for a sole cause of the sickness of the soul: there are those
(saith he) troubled in mind that have no other cause but this.
Homer {Iliad. 1) brings in Achilles eating of his own heart in
his idleness, because he might not fight, Mercurialis, consil. 86,
for a melancholy young man, urgeth f it as a chief cause : why
was he melancholy ? because idle. Nothing begets it sooner
enereaseth and continueth it oftener, than idleness -a disease
familiar to all idle persons, an inseparable companion to such
as liveat ease (jnngui olio desidiose agentes) a life out of ac¬
tion, and having no calling or ordinary employment to busie
themselves about; that have small occasions; and though
they have, such is theirlazinesSj dulness, they will not compose
themselves to do ought; they cannot abide work, though it be
necessary, easie, as to dress themselves, write a letter, or the
like. Yet, as he that is benummed with cold, sits still shaking,
that might relie ve himself with a little exercise or stirring, do
they complain, but will not use the facile and ready means to
do themselves good ; and so are still tormented with nielan-
aHom. 31. in 1. Cor. 6. Nam, qua mens hominis quiescere non 'possit. sed.
continuo circa varias cogitationes discurrat, nisi honesto aliqao negotio occupetur, ad
melancholiam sponte delabitur. bCrato, consil. 21. Ut immodica corporis
exercitatio nocet corporibus, ita vita deses et otiosa : otium animal pituitosnm reddit,
viscernm obstructiones, et crebras fluxiones, et morbos concitat. cEt vidi quod
una de rebus qn® magis generat melancholiam, est otiositas. d Reponitar otium
ab aliis caussa; et hoc a nobis observatum, eos huic malo magis obnoxios qui plane
otiosi sunt.’quam eos qui abquo munere versantur exsequendo. e De Tranquil,
anim®. Sunt qUos ipsum otium in anima conjicit segritudinem. fNihilest
quod ®que melancholiam alat ac augeat, ac otium et abstinentia a corporis et animi
exercitationibus .
123
Mem. 2. Subs. 6.] Idleness a Cause.
choly. Especially if they bad been formerly brought up to
business, or to keep much company, and upon a sudden come
to lead a sedentary life, ait crucifies their souls, and seizeth on
them in an instant ; for, whilest they are any ways imployed, in
action, discourse, about any business, sport or recreation, or in
company to their liking, they are very well ; but, if alone or
idle, tormented instantly again: one days solitariness, one
hours sometimes, doth them more harm, than a weeks phy-
sick, labour and company can do good. Melancholy seizeth
oh them forthwith, being alone, and is such a torture, that, as
wise Seneca well saith, maid mihi male quam molliter esse, I
had rather be sick than idle. This idleness is either of body
or mind. That of body is nothing but a kind of benumming
laziness, intermitting exercise, which (if we may believe bFer-
nelius) caUð crudities, obstructions , excremental humours,
quencheth the natural heat, dulls the spirits , and makes them
unapt to do any thing whatsoever*
c Neglectis urenda filix innascitur agris.
As fern grows in untild grounds, and all manner of weeds, so
do gross humours in an idle body : ignavum corrumpunt otia
corpus. A horse in a stable, that never travels, a hawk in a
mew, that seldom flies, are both subject to diseases ; which,- left
unto themselves, are most free from any such incumbrances.
An idle dog will be mangy ; and how can an idle person think
to escape? Idleness of the mind is much worse than this of
the body : wit without employment is a disease, " aerugo
animi, rubigo ingenii : the rust of the soul, e a plague, a hell
it self ; maximum animi nocumentum, Galen calls it. f As,
in a standing pool, worms and filthy creepers increase, ( et vi-
tium capiunt, ni moveaniur, aquae ; the water itself putrifies,
and air likewise, if it be not continually stirred by the wind) So
do evil and corrupt thoughts in an idle person ; the soul is con¬
taminated. In a common-wealth, where is no public enemy,
there is, likely civil wars, and they rage upon themselves :
this body of ours when it is idle, and knows not how to be¬
stow it self, macerates and vexeth it self with cares, griefs,
false fears, discontents, and suspicions ; it tortures and preys
upon his Own bowels, and is never at rest. This much 1 dare
boldly say, he or she that is idle, be they of what condition
they will, never so rich, so well alUied, fortunate, happy— let
a Nihil magis exceecat intellectum, quam otium. Gordonius, de observat. vit hum.
lib. 1. bPath. lib. 1. cap. 17. exercitationis intermissio inertem calorem, languidos
spiritijs, et ignavos, et ad omnes actiones segniores, reddit ; cruditates, obstructioues,
et excrementorum proventus facit. cHor.Ser. 1. Sat. 3. ^ -Seneca. «Mcero-
rem animi, et maciem, Plutarch calls it f Sicut in stagno generantur vermes, sic
in otioso mate cogitationes. Sen. * :
124 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
them have all thing's in abundance, and felicity, that heart can
wish and desire, all contentment — so long as he or she., or they,
are idle, they shall never be pleased, never well in body and
niiiid, but weary still, sickly still, Vexed still, loathing still,
weeping, sighing, grieving, suspecting, offended with the
world, with every object, wishing themselves gone or dead, or
else carried away with some foolish phantasie or other. And
this is the true cause that so many great men, ladies, and gen¬
tlewomen, labour of this disease in countrey and city; for
idleness is an appendix to nobility ; they Count it a disgrace to
work, and spend all their days in sports, recreations, and pas¬
times, and will therefore take no pains, be of no vocation ;
they feed liberally, fare well, want exercise, action, employ¬
ment, (for to work, I say, they may not abide) and company
to their desires ; and thence their bodies become full of gross
humours, wind, crudities, their minds disquieted, dull, heavy,
&c. Care, j ealousie, fear of some diseases, sullen fits, weeping
fits, seize too a familiarly on them : for, what will not fear and
phantasie work in an idle body ? what distempers will they not
cause ? When the children of Israel murmured b against
Pharaoh in iEgypt, he commended his officers to double their
task, and lettkem get straw themselves, and yet make their full
number of brick : for the sole cause why they mutiny, and
are evil at ease, is, they are idle. When you shall hear and
see so many discontented persons in all places where you come,
so many several grievances, unnecessary complaints, fears, sus¬
picions0, the best means to redress it, is to set them awork, so
to busie their minds ; for the truth is, they are idle. Well
they may build castles in the air for a time, and sooth up them¬
selves with phantastical and pleasant humours; but in the end
they will prove as bitter as gall ; they shall be still, I say, dis¬
content, suspicious, d fearful, jealous, sad, fretting and vexing
of themselves ; so long as they be idle, it is impossible to please
. them. Olio qui neseit uti, plus habet negotii, quam quineyo -
tium in negotio, as that e Agellius could observe : he that
knows not how to spend his time, hath more business, care,
grief, anguish of mind, than he that is most busie in the midst
of all his business. Oliosus animus neseit quid volet : an idle
person (as he follows it) knows not when he is well, what he
would have, or whither he would go ; quam illuc ventum est,
ilKnc lubet ; he is tired out with every thing, displeased with
all, weary of fiis life : nee bene domi, nee militice, neither at
a Now this leg, now that arm, now'their head, heart, &c. • - . bExod- 5.
c {For . they cannot well tell what aileth them, or what they would have themselves)
my heart, my head, my husband, mv :son, &c. ^Pro. 18- Eigrnm dejiciet timor
— IJeautontimonunenon. e Lib.19. c. 10. ^ . . ...
125
Mem. 2. Subs. 6.] Idleness a Cause.
home, nor abroad; err at, et pr ester vitam vivit ; he wanders,
and lives besides himself. In a word, what the mischievous
effects of laziness and idleness are, I do not find any where
more accurately expressed, than in these verses of Philolaches
in the a Comical Poet, which, for their elegancy, I will in
part insert.
Novarum sedium esse harbitror similem. ego hominem,
Quando hie natus est. Ei rei argumenta dicam.
jEdes quando sunt ad amussim expolitae,
Quisque laudat fabrum, atque exemplum expetit, &c.
At ubi illo migrat nequam homo indiligensque, &c.
Tempestas venit, eonfringit tegulas, imbricesque, &c,
Putrefacit aer operam fabri, &c.
Dicam -at homines similes esse sedium arbitremini.
Fabri parentes fundamentum substruimHiberorum; .
Expoliunt, docent literas, nec parcunt sumptui.
Ego autem sub fabrorum potestate frugi fui ;
Postquam autem migravi in ingenium meum,
Perdidi operam fabrorum illico, oppido,
Venit ignavia ; ea mihi tempestas fuit,
Adventuque sup grandinem et imbrem attidit.
Ilia mihi virtutem deturbavit, &c.
A youn^ man is like a fair new house : the carpenter leaves it
well built, in good repair, of solid stuff; but a bad tenant lets
it rain in, and, for want of reparation, fall to decay, &c. Our
parents, tutors, friends, spare no cost to bring us up in our
youth, in all manner of vertuous education ; but when we are
left to ourselves, idleness, as a tempest, drives all vertuous
motions out of our minds ; et nihili sunms ; on a sudden, by
sloth and such bad ways, we come to naught.
Cozen german to idleness, and a concomitant cause, which
goes hand in hand with it, is b nimia solitude, too much soli¬
tariness — by the testimony of all physicians, cause and syrup-
tome both : but as it is here put for a cause, it is either coact,
enforced, or else voluntary. Enforced solitariness is commonly
seen in students, monks, friers, anchorites, that, by their order
and course of life, must abandon all company, society of other
men, and betake themselves to a private cell ; otio superstitioso
sechisi (as Bale and Hospinian well term it), such as are the
Carthusians of our time, that eat no flesh (by their order), keep
perpetual silence, never go abroad ; such as live in prison, or
some desert place, and cannot have company, as many of our
countrey gentleman do in solitary houses ; they must either be
alone without companions, or live beyond their means, and
* Plautus, ProL Mostel. b Piso, Montaltus, Mercurialis, &c. .
126
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
entertain all comers as so many hosts, or else converse with
their servants and hinds, such as are unequal, inferior to
them, and of a contrary disposition; or else, as some do, to
avoid solitariness, spend their time xvith leud fellows in taverns,
and in ale-houses, and thence addict themselves to some un¬
lawful disports, or dissolute courses. Divers again are east
upon this rock of solitariness for want of means, or out of a
strong apprehension of some infirmity, disgrace ; or, through
, bashfulness, rudeness, simplicity, they Cannotapply themselves
to others company. Nullum solum infelici gratius solitu-
dine, ubi nullus sit qui miseriam exprobret. This enforced
solitariness takes place, and produceth his effect soonest, in
such as have spent their time jovially, peradventure in all
honest recreations, in good company, in some great family or
populous city, and are upon a sudden confined to a desart
country cottage far off, restrained of their liberty, and barred
from their ordinary associates. Solitariness is very irksom
to such, most tedious, and a sudden cause of great inconve¬
nience.
Voluntary solitariness is that which is familiar with melan¬
choly, and gently brings on, like a Siren, a shooiog-horn, or
some Sphinx, to this irrevocable gulf : aa primary cause Piso
calls it ; most pleasant it is at first, to such as are melancholy
given, to lie in bed whole dayes, and keep their chambers, to
walk alone in some solitary grove, betwixt wood and water, by
a brook side, to meditate upon some delightsome and pleasant
subject, which shall affect them most ; amabilis insania, and
mentis gratissimus error. A most incomparable delight it is
so to melancholize, and build castles in the air, to go smiling
to themselves, acting an infinite variety of parts, which they
suppose, and strongly imagine they represent, or that they see
acted or done. Blanda quidem ab initio , saith Lemnius, tp
conceive and meditate of such pleasant things sometimes,
b present , past, or to come, as Rhasis speaks. So delightsome
these toyes are at first, they could spend whole days and
nights without sleep, even whole years alone in such con¬
templations, and phantastical meditations, which are like
unto dreams; and they will hardly be drawn from them,
or willingly interrupt. So pleasant their vain conceits are,
that they hinder their ordinary tasks and necessary busi¬
ness; they cannot address themselves to them, or almost to
any study or imployraent : these phantastical and bewitching
thoughts so covertly, so feelingly, so urgently, so continually,
set upon, creep in, insinuate, possess, overcome, distract, and
f A quibns'inalum, velut a primarii cawssa, occasionem nactum est. b Jucuuda
rerum praesentium, prseteritarnm et pufutorarum meditatio.
Mem. 2. Subs. 6.]
Idleness , a Cause.
127
detain them, they cannot, I say, go about their more necessary
business, stave off or extricate themselves, but are ever musing,
melancholizing, and carried along, as he (they say) that is led
round about an heath with a Puck in the night. They run
earnestly on in this labyrinth of anxious and solicitous melan¬
choly meditations, and cannot well or willingly refrain, or easily
leave off, winding or unwinding themselves, as so many
clocks, andstill pleasing their humours, until at last the scene
is turned upon a sudden, by some bad object: and they, being
now habituated to such vain meditations and solitary places,
can endure no company, can ruminate of nothing but harsh
and distasteful subjects. Fear, sorrow, suspicion, subrusticus
pudor, discontent, cares, and weariness of life, surprize them in
a moment ; and they can think of nothing else : continually
suspecting, no sooner are their eyes open, but this infernal
plague of melancholy seizeth on them, and terrifies their souls,
representing some dismal object to their minds, which now, by
no means, no labour, no perswasions, they can avoid ; hceret
lateri lethalis arundo ; they may not be rid of it ; a they cannot
resist. 1 may not deny but that there is some profitable medi¬
tation, contemplation, and kind of solitariness, to be embraced,
which the fathers so highly commended — bHierom, Chrysostom,
Cyprian, Austin, in whole tracts, which Petrarch, Erasmus,
Stella, and others, so much magnifie in their books— a para¬
dise, an heaven on earth, if it be used aright, good for the
body, and better for the soul ; as many of those old monks
used it, to divine contemplations ; as Similus a courtier in
Adrians time, Dioclesian the emperour, retired themselves,
&c. in that sense, Vatia solus scit vivere : Yatia lives alone ;
which the Romans were wont to say, when they commended a
countrey life ; or to the bettering of their knowledge, as Demo¬
critus, Cleanthes, and those excellent philosophers, have ever
done, to sequester themselves from the tumultuous world; or,
as in Plinies villa Laurentana, Tullies Tusculan, Jovius study,
that they might better vacate studiis et Deo, serve God and folr
low their studies. Methinks, therefore, our too zealous inno¬
vators w ere not so well advised in that general subversion of
abbies and religious houses, promiscuously to fling down all.
They might have taken away those gross abuses crept in
amongst them, rectified such inconveniences, and not so far to
haveraved and raged against those fair buildings, and everlasing
monuments of our forefathers devotion, consecrated to pious
a Facilis descensus Averni ; Sed revocare gradnm, superasque evadere ad auras. Hie
labor, boc opus est. Virg. s b Hieronymus, ep. 72. dixit oppida et urbes videri
sibi tetros carceres, solitudinem' Paradisnm ; solum scorpionibus infectum, sacco
araictus, humi Cubans, aqua et herbis victitans, Romanis prsetulit deliciis.
128
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
uses. Some monasteries and collegiate cells might hare been •
well spared, and their re venues '.otherwise imployed; here and
there one, in good towns or cites at least, for men and women
of all sorts and conditions to live in, to sequester themselves
from the cares and tumults of the world, that were not desir¬
ous or fit to marry, or otherwise willing to be troubled with
common affairs, and know not well where to bestow themselves,
to live apart in, for some convenieqey, good education, better
company sake ; to follow their studies (1 say) to the perfection
of arts and sciences, common good, and, as some tiuly de¬
voted monks of old had done, freely and truly to serve God:
for these men are neither solitary, nor idle, as the poet made
answer to the husbandman in iEsop, that objected idleness
to him, he was never so idle as in his company ; or that Scipio
Afrieanus in aTully, numquam minus solus, quam quum solus;
numqudm minus otiosus, quam quum esset otiosus ; never less
solitary than when he was alone, never more busie, than
when he seemed to be most idle. It is reported by Plato,
in his dialogue de Amove, in that prodigious commendation of
Socrates, hew, a deep meditation coming into Socrates mind
by chance, he stood still musing, eodem vestigio cogitabundus,
from morning to noon ; and, when as then he had not yet
finished his meditation, perstabat cogitans ; he so continued
till the evening : the soutdiers (for he then followed the camp)
observed him with admiration, and on set purpose watched
all night; but he persevered immoveable ad exortum solis,
till the sun rose in the morning, and then, saluting the sun,
went his wayes. In what humour constant Socrates did thus,
I know not, or how he might be affected ; but this would be
pernicious to another man ; what intricate business might so
really possess him, I cannot easily guess. But this is otiosum
otium ; it is far otherwise with these men, according to Sene¬
ca : omnia nobis mala solitudo persuadet ; this solitude un-
doeth us ; pugnat cum vita sociali; ’tis a destructive solitari¬
ness. These men are devils, alone, as the saying is : homo solus
aut dens, aut dcemon ; a man, alone, is either a saint or a devil;
4 mens ejiis aut languescit, aut tumescit ; and hvoe soli! in this
sense ; woe be to him that is so alone ! These wretches do fre¬
quently degenerate from men, and of sociable creatures, be¬
come beasts, monsters, inhumane, ugly to behold, misanthropic
they do even loath themselves, and hate the company of men,
as so many Timons, Nebuchadnezars, by too much indulging
to these pleasing humours, and through their own default.
So that which Mercurialis (consil, 1 1) sometimes expostulated
with his melancholy patient, may be justly applied to every
aQffic: 3.
b Eccl. 4.
129
Mem. 2. Subs. 7.] Sleeping and waking. Causes.
solitary and idle person in particular : a natura de te videtur
conqueri posse, Sfc. nature may justly complain of thee , that ,
whereas she gave thee a good wholesome temperature, a sound
body, and God hath given thee so divine and excellent a soul,
so many good parts and profitable gifts, thou hast not only
contemned and rejected, but hast corrupted them , polluted
them, overthrown their temperature, and perverted those gifts
with riot, idleness, solitariness, and many other wages ; thou
art a traitour to God and Nature, an enemy to thy self and
to the world. Per ditto tua ex te ; thou hast lost thy self wil¬
fully, cast away thy self ; thou thyself art the efficient cause
of thine own misery, by not resisting such vain cogitations, but
giving way unto them.
SUBSECT. VII.
Sleeping and waking, Causes.'
"W HAT I have formerly said of exercise, I may now repeat
of sleep. \ Nothing- better than moderate sleep ; nothing worse
than it, if it be in extreams, dr unseasonably used. It is a
received opinion, that a melancholy man cannot sleep over¬
much: somnus supra modum prodest ; as an only antidote;
and nothing offends them more, or causeth this malady sooner,
than waking. Yet, in some cases, sleep may do more harm
than good, in that flegmatick, swinish, cold, and sluggish melan¬
choly, which Melancthon speaks of, that thinks of waters, sigh¬
ing most part, &c. bIt duls the spirits (if overmuch) and senses,
fills the head full of gross humours, causeth destinations,
rheums, great store of excrements in the brain, and all the
other parts, as cFuchsius speaks of them, that sleep like so
many dormice. Or, if it be used in the day time, upon a
full stomach, the body ill composed to rest, or after hard meats,
it increaseth fearful dreams, incubus, night walking, crying
out, and much unquietness. Such sleep prepares the body, as
d one observes, to many perilous diseases. But, as I have said,
waking overmuch is both a symptome and an ordinary cause.
It causeth driness of' the brain, frensie, dotage, and makes the
» Natura de te videtur conqueri posse, quod, cum ab ea teniperatissimum corpus
adeptus sis : tam prseclarum a Deo ac utile donum, non contempsisti modo, vemm
corrupisti, .foedasti, prodidisti, optimam temperaturam otio, crapula, et aliis vitee
erroribus, &c. b Path. lib. cap. 17. Fern, corpus infrigidat ; omnes sensus,
- mentisque vires, torpore debilitat. ' c Lib. 2. sect. 2, cap. 4. Magnam excre-
-tnentorum vim cerebro et aliis partibus coacervat. a Jo. Ketzius, lib, de
rebns.6. non-naturalibus.. Praeparat corpus talis somnus ad multas periGglosas asgri-
tudines.
ISO
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
body dry, lean, hard, and ugly to behold, as f Lemnius hath it.
The temperature of the brain is corrupted by it, the humours
adust, the eyes made to sink into the head, choler increased,
and the whole body inflamed; and, (as may be added out of Ga¬
len, 3. de sanitate tuenda, Avicenna 3. 1.) b it overthrows the
natural heat ; it causeth crudities, hurts concoction ; and what
not? Not without good cause, therefore, Crato (comil. 21 .
lib. 2.), Hildeshiem (spicil. 2. de delir. et Mania), Jacchinus,
Arculanus (on Rhasis ), Guianerius, and Mercurialis, reckon
up this overmuch wakeing, as a principal cause.
MEMB. III. SUBSECT. I.
Passions and Perturbations of the Mind, how they cause
Melancholy.
As that Gymnosopbist, in c Plutarch, made answer to Alex¬
ander (demanding which spake best), everyone of his fellows
did speak better than the other ; so may I say of these causes,
to him that shall require which is the greatest, every one is
more grievous than other, and this of passion the greatest of
all ; a most frequent and ordinary cause ofmelancholy, Afulmen
perturbationuni (Piccolomineus calls it), this thunder and light¬
ning' of perturbation, which causeth such violent and speedy
alterations in this our microcosm, and many times subverts the
good estate and temperature of it : for, as the body works upon
the mind, by his bad humours, troubling the spirits; and send¬
ing gross fumes into the brain, and so per consequens , disturb¬
ing the soul, and all the faculties of it,
- ___e Corpus onustum :
Hesternis vitiis, animum quoque prsegravat una,
with fear, sorrow, &c. which are ordinary symptomes of this
disease: so, on the other side, the mind most effectually
works upon the body, producing, by his passions and perturb¬
ations, miraculous alterations, as melancholy, despair, cruel
diseases, and sometimes death it self ; insomuch that it is most
true which Plato saith in his Charmides ; omnia corporis
mala ah anima procedure; all the f mischiefs of the body
a Instit. ad vitam optimain, c. 26, cerebro siccitatem adfert, phrenesin et delirium :
corpus aridum facit, squalidum, strigosum ; humores adurit ; temperamentum cerebri
corrumpit ; maciem inducit : exsiccat corpus, bilem accendit, profundosreddit oculos,
calorem auget. *> Natural em calorem dissipat: lajsa concoctione, eradicates facit.
Attenuant juvenum vigilatse corpora noctes. c Vita Alexand. d Grad. 1.
c. 14. eHor. fPerturbationes clavi sunt, quibus corpori animus ceu
patibulo affigitur. Jamb, de myst.
131
Memb. 3. Subs. 1.] Perturbations of the Mind.
proceed from the soul: and Democritus in a Plutarch urgetb,
Damnatum iri animam a corpore; if the body should, in this
behalf, bring an action against the soul, surely the soul would
be cast and convicted, that by her supine negligence, had
caused such inconveniences, having authority over the body,
and using it for an instrument, as a smith doth his hammer,
saith b Cyprian, imputing all those vices and maladies to the
mind. Even so doth cPhilostratus, npn coinquinatur corpus ,
nisi consensu animce ; the body is not corrupted, but by the
soul. d Lodovicus Vives will have such turbulent commotions
proceed from ignorance and indiscretion. All philosophers
impute the miseries of the body to the soul, that should have
governed it better by command of reason, and hath not done
it. The Stoicks are altogether of opinion (as e Lipsius and
fPicoolomineus record) that a wise man should be s??,
withoutall manner of passionsand perturbations whatsoever, as
§ Seneca reports of Cato, the h Greeks of Socrates, and 1 Jo.
Aubanus of a nation in Africk, so free from passion, or rather
so stupid, that, if they be wounded with a sword, they will
only look back. kLactantius (2 instit .) will exclude fear
from, a wise man : others except all, some the greatest pas¬
sions. But, let them dispute how they will, set down in thesi,
five precepts to the contrary ; we find that of 1 Lemnius true
y common experience ; no mortal man is free from these
perturbations : or if he be so, sure he is either a god, or a
block. They are born and bred, with us, we have them from
our parents by inheritance : aparentibus habemus malum hunc
assem, saith m Pelezius f nascitur una nobiscum , aliturque ; !tis
propagated from Adam ; Cain was melancholy, 11 as Austin
hath it ; and who is not? Good discipline, education, philoso¬
phy, divinity, (I cannot deny) may mitigate and restrain these
passions in some few men at some times ; but, most part, they
domineer, and are so violent, 0 that — as a torrent, ( torrens
velut aggere rupto) bears down all before, and overflows his
hanks, sternit agros, sternit sata— they overwhelm reason,
judgement, and pervert the temperature of the body. Per fur
p equis auriga , neque audit currus habenas. Now such a man
(q saith Austin) that is so led , in a wise mans eye, is no better
a Lib. de sanitat tuend. h Proleg. de virtute Christi. Quae utitnr corpore,
nt faber malleo. c Vita Apollonii, lib. 1. dLib.deanim.ab-inconsi-
derautia, et ignorantia omnes animi motus. eDe Physiol. Stoic. f Grad. 1.
c. 82. sEpist. 104. '> iElianns. i Lib. 1. cap. 6. si qais ense
percusserit eos, tantum respiciunt. k Terror ia sapiente esse non debet. 1 De
occult, nat. mir. 1. 1. c. 16. Nemo mortalium, qui affectibus non ducatur : qui non
movetur, aut saxum ant Deus est. m Instit. 1. 2. de humanorum affect morbo-
rumque curat nEpist.l05. ° Granatensis. PVirg. qDe
civit Dei, 1. 14 c, 9. qualis in oculis hominum, qui inversis pedibus ambulat, talis in
oculis sapientnin, eui passiones dominantur.
132 Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
than he that- stands upon his head. It is doubted by some,
gramoresne ntorbi aperturbationibus;an ab humtoribus, Whether
humours or perturbations -cause the more grievous maladies.
But we find that of our Saviour {Mat. 26. 41) most true: the
spirit is willing; the flesh is weak-'; we cannot resist; and this
of a Philo Judes us '.perturbations often offend the body, and are-
most frequent causes of melancholy, turning it out of the hinges
of his health. Yi ves compares them to b winds upon the sea ;
some only move, as those great gales; but others, turbulent ,
quite overtumthe ship. Those which are light, easie, and more
seldom, to our thinking, do us little harm, and are therefore
contemned of us: yet, if they be reiterated, c as the rain { saith
Austin) doth a stone , so do these perturbations penetrate the
mind, dand (as one observes) -produce a habit of melancholy
at the last, which having gotten the mastery in our souls, may
well be called diseases.
How these passions produce this effect, e Agrippa hath ban-
died at large, Occult. Philos. 7.1 1. c. 63 ; Cardan, l. 14. subtil.
Lemmas, l. \, c. 12. de occult, not. mir. et lib. 1. cap. 16 ;
Suarez, Met. disput. 18. sect. 1. art. 25; T. Bright, cap. 12.
of his Melancholy Treatise ; Wright the Jesuite, in his book
of the Passions of the Mind, &c.— thus in brief— To our ima¬
gination cometh, by the outward sense or memory, some object
to be known (residing in the foremast part of the brain), Which
he misconceiving dr amplifying, presently communicates to the
heart, the seat of all affections. The pure spirits forthwith flock
from the brain to the heart, by certain secret channels, and sig-
nifie what good or bad object was presented ; f which imme¬
diately bends itselfto prosecute or avoid it, and, withal, draweth
with it other humours to help it. So, in pleasure, concur great
store of purer spirits ; in sadness* much melancholy blood; in
ire, choler. If the imagination be very apprehensive, intent,
and violent, it sends great store of spirits to or from the heart,
and makes a deeper impression, and greater tumult : as the
humours in the body be likewise prepared, and the temperature
it self ill or well disposed, the passions are longer and stronger:
so that the first step and fountain of all our grievances in this
a Lib. de Decal.: passiones maxime. corpus offendunt et animam, et frequentissim® '
causs® melancholi®, dimoventes ab ingenio et: sanitate pristina, 1. 3. de artima.
b Frsena et stimuli animi : velut inmari quaadamaurse leves, qu®dam placid®, qu®dam '
turbulent®; sic in corpore quaedam aflectiones excitant tantnin, qii®daih ita movent,
ut de statu judicii depellant. cTJt gutta lapidem, sic paullatim h® penetrant
animum. <1 TJsu valentes, recte morbi animi vocantnr. e Imaginatio
movet corpus, ad cujus motam excitantar hnmores, et spiritus vitales, quibus alteratur. :
fEccles. 13. 26. The heart alters the countenance to- good or evil; and distraction’
of the mind causeth distemperature of the body.
133
Mem. 3. Subs. 2.] Of the Force of Imagination.
kind is a Icesa imagination which, mis-informing the heart,
causeth all these distemperatures, alteration and confusion of
spirits and humours; by means of which, so disturbed, concoe-
tionis hindred, and the principal parts are much debilitated ; as
b Dr. Navarre well declared, being consulted by Montanus
about a melancholy Jew. The spirits so confounded, the
nourishment must needs be abated, bad humours increased,
crudities and thick spirits engendered, with melancholy blood.
The other parts cannot perform their functions, having the
spirits drawn from them by vehement passion, but fail in sense
and motion: so we look ..upon a thing, and see it not; hear
. and observe not ; which otherwise would much affect us, had
we been free. I may therefore conclude with c Arnoldus,
maxima vis est phantasies ; ethnic uni fere, nonautem corporis
intemperiei , omnis melancholics caussa est ascribenda : great is
the force of imagination ; and much more ought the cause of
melancholy to be ascribed to this alone, than to the distem-
perature of the body. Of which imagination, because it hath
so great a stroke in producing this malady, and is so power¬
ful of it self, it will not be improper to my discourse, to make
a brief digression, and speak of the force of it, and how it
causeth this alteration. Which manner of digression how¬
soever some dislike, as frivolous and impertinent, yet I am of
dBeroaldus his opinion, such digressions do mightily delight
and refresh a weary reader ; they are like sawce to a had
stomach ; and I do therefore most willingly use them.
- SUBSEC.T.- II.
Of the Force of Imagination.
What Imagination is, I have sufficiently declared in my
digression of the anatomy of the soul. I will only now point
at the wonderful effects and power of it ; which, as it is eminent
in all, so most especially it rageth in melancholy persons, in
keeping the species of objects so long, mistaking, amplifying
them by continual and e strong meditation, until at length it
produceth in some parties real effects^ causeth this, and many
a Spiritus et sanguis a lsesa imaginatione contaminantur ; hnmores enim mutati
actionis animi immutant. Pisa. b Montaui consil. 22. Hse vero quomodo
eausent melancholiam, clarum: etqnod concqetionem imgediani, et membra princi-.
palia debilitent. cBre\'iar. 1. 1. cap. 18. <1 Solnnt hujusmodi egressiones
favorabiliter oblectare3et lectoremlassum jucunde refovere,stomachumque nauseantem,
qnodam quasi condimento, reficere : et ego libenter excurro. e Ab imaginatione
erinntur aifectiones, quibiis anima componitur, ant turbattir de turbatur, Jo. Sarisbnr-
Matolog. lib. 4. c. 10. ~
/
134
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
other maladies. And although this phantasie of ours be a
subordinate faculty to reason, and should be ruled by it, yet in
many men, through inward or outward distemperatures, defect
of organs, which are unapt or hindred, or otherwise contami¬
nated, it is likewise unapt, hindred, and hurt. This we see
verified insleepers, which, by reason of humours, and concourse
of vapours troubling the phantasie, imagine many times absurd
and prodigious tilings, and in such as are trou bled with incubus,
or witch-ridden (as we call it) : if they lie on their backs, they
suppose an old woman rides and sits so bard upon them, that
they are almost stifled for want of breath : when there is no¬
thing offends but a concourse of bad humours, which trouble
the phantasie. This is likewise evident in such as walk in the
night in their sleep, and do strange feats : a these vapours move
the phantasie, the phantasie the appetite, which, moving the
animal spirits, causeth the body to walk up and down, as if they
were awake. Fracast. (/. 3. de intellect .) refers all extasies to
this force of imagination ; such as lye whole dayes together in a
trance, as that priest whom b Celsus speaks of, that could sepa¬
rate himself from his senses when he list, and lie like^a dead
man void of life and sense. Cardan brags of himself, that he
could do as much, and that when he list. Many times such
men, when they come to themselves, tell strange things of hea¬
ven and hell, what visions they have seen; as that Sr Owen in
Matthew Paris, that went into S* Patricks Purgatory, and the
monk of Evesham in the same author. Those commonappari-
tions in Bede and Gregory, SaintBrigets revelations, Wier,/. 3 . de
lamiis c. 11, Caesar Yanninus in his Dialogues, &c.reducetb, (as
I have formerly said) with all those tales of witches progresses,
dancing-, riding, transformations, operations, &c.to the force of
imagination, and the ddevils illusions. The like effects almost
are to be seen in such as are awake ; how many chimaeras, an-
ticks, golden mountains, and castles in the air, do they build
unto themselves! I appeal to painters, mechanicians, mathe¬
maticians. Some ascribe all vices to a false and corrupt ima¬
gination, anger, revenge, lust, ambition, covetousness, which
prefers falshood, before that which is right and good, deluding
the soul with false shows and suppositions. eBernardusPenottus
will have heresie and superstition to proceed from this fountain;
as he falsely imagineth,so he believeth ; and as he conceiveth of
it, so it must be, and it shall be ; contra gentes, he will have it
a Scalig. exercit. ‘ b Qui, quoties volehat, mortuo similis jacebat, auferens se a
sensibns ; et, quum pungeretur, dolorem non sensit. c Idem Nyruannus, orat.
de Imaginat. _ a Verbis et unctionibus se consecrant dsemoni pessim® maKeres,
qui iis -ad opus suum utitur, et earum phantasiam regit, ducitque ad loca ab ipsis desi¬
derata : corpora vero earum sine sensu permanent, quae umbra cooperit diabolus, ut
nnlli sint conspicua ; et post, umbra sublata, propriis corporibus easrestituit, 1. 3. c. 11.
Wier. c Denario medico. -
135
Mem. 3. Subs. 2.] Ofthe Force of Imagination.
so. But most especially in passions and affections, it shews
strange and evident effects: what will not a fearful man con¬
ceive in the dark } what strange forms of bugbears, devils,
witches, goblins ? Lavater imputes the greatest cause of spec-
trums, and the like apparitions, to fear, which, above all other
passions, begets the strongest imagination (saith a Wierus) ;
and so likewise love, sorrow, joy, &c. Some die suddenly, as
she that saw her son come from the battel at Cannse, &c,
Jacob the patriarch, by force of imagination, made peckled
lambs, laying peckled rods before his sheep. Persina, that
^Ethiopian queen in Heliodorus, by seeing the picture of Per¬
seus and Andromeda, in stead of a blackmoor, was brought to
bed of a fair white child ; in imitation of whom, belike, an
hard favoured fellow in Greece, because he and his wrife were
both deformed, to get a good brood of children, elegantissi-
mas imagines in thalamo collocavit , fyc. hung the fairest pic¬
tures he could buy for money in his chamber, that his wife, hy
frequent sight of them, might conceive and hear such children.
And, if we may believe Bale, one of Pope Nicholas the thirds
concubines, by seeing of b a bear, was brought to bed of a
monster. If a woman , (saith e Lemnius) at the time of her
conception, think of another man present or absent, the child
will he like him. Great-bellied women, when they long, yield
us prodigious examples in this kind, as moles, warts, scars,
harelips, monsters, especially caused in their children by force
of a depraved phantasie in them. Ipsam speciem, quam ammo
ejfigiat,fetui inducit : she imprints that stamp upon her child,
which she d conceives unto her self. And therefore Xodovieus
Yives (lib. 2. de Christ, femi) gives a special caution to great-
bellied women, e that they do not admit such absurd conceits
and cogitations, but by all means avoid those horrible objects ,
heard or seen , or filthy spectacles. Some will laugh, weep,
sigh, groan, blush, tremble, Sweat, at such things as are sug¬
gested unto them by their 'imagination. Avicenna speaks of
one that could cast himself into a palsie when he list ; and
some can imitate the tunes of birds and beasts, that they can
hardly be discerned. Dagobertus and Saint Francis scars and
wounds, like to those of Christs (if at the least any such were),
aSolet timor, pre omnibus affectibus, fortes imaginationes gignere ; post, amor,
&c. I. 3. c. 8. b Ex viso urso, talem peperit, <=Lib. 1. cap. 4. de oc¬
cult; nat mir. Si, inter amplexus et suavia, cogitet de uno aut alio absente, ejus
effigies solet in feta elucere. dQuid non fetui, adhuc matri unite, subita
spirituum vibratione, per nervos, quibus matrix cerebro conjuncfa est, imprimit
impregnate imaginatio? ut, si imaginetur malum granatum, illius notas secum
proferet fetus ; si leporem, infans editur supremo labello bifido, et dissecto.
Vehemens cogitatio movet rerum species. Wier. 1. 3. cap. 8. eNe,'dum
uterum gestent, admittant absurdas cogitationes : sed et visu, audituque fceda et
horrenda devitent.
VOL. I. s
136
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
a Agrippasupposeth to have hapned by force of imagination.
That some are turned to wolves, from men to women, and
Women again to men, (which is constantly believed) tothesame
imagination; or from men to asses, dogs, or any other shapes—
bWierus ascribes all those famous transformations to ima¬
gination. That, in hydrophobia, they seem to see the picture
of a dog still in their water; cthat melancholy men, and sick
men, conceive so many phantastical visions, apparitions to
themselves, and have such absurd apparitions, as that they are
kings, lords, cocks, bears, apes, owls ; that they are heavy, light,
transparent, great and little, senseless and dead, (as shall be
shewed more at large, in our d Sections of Symptomes) can be
imputed to nought else, but to a corrupt, false, and violent ima¬
gination. It works not in sick and melancholy men only,
but even most forcibly sometimes in such as are sound,: it
makes them suddenly sick, and e alters their temperature in
an instant. And sometimes a strong conceit or apprehension,
as f Valesius proves, will take away diseases : in both kinds, it
will produce real effects. Men, if they see but another man
tremble, giddy, or sick of some fearful disease, their apprehen¬
sion and fear is so strong in this kind, that they will have the
same disease. Or if, by some sooth-say er, wise-man, fortune¬
teller, or physician, they be told they shall have such a disease,
they will so seriously apprehend it, that they will instantly
labour of it— a thing familiar in China (saith Riccius the
Jesuit : )sifit he told them, that they shall he sick on such a day ,
when that day comes , they will surely he sick , and will, he so
terrib ly afflicted, that sometimes they die upon it. Dr. Cotta
(in his Disco very of ignorant Practitioners of Physick, cap. 8.)
hath two strange stories to this purpose, what phansie is able
to do ; the one of a parsons wife in Northamptonshire, anno
1607, that, coming to a physician, and told by him that she was
troubled with the sciatica, as he conj ectured, (a disease she was
free from) the same night after her return, upOn his words, fell
into a grievous fit of a sciatica: and such another example he
hath of another good wife, that was so troubled with the cramp;
after the same manner she came by it, because her physician
did but name it. Sometimes death itself is caused by force of
phantasie. I have heard of one, that, coming by chance in
a Occult. Philos. 1.1. C. 64. ' faXjib. 3. de Lamiis, cap. 10. cAgrippa,
lib. 1. cap. 64. d Sect. 3. memb. 1 . subsect. 3. e Malleus malefic, fol. 77.
Corpus mntari potest in diversas aegritudines, ex forti apprehensione. fFr. Vales.
1. 5. cont. 6. Nonnumquam etiam morbi diutami consequuntur, quandoque curantnr.
eExpedit. in Sinas, 1. l. c. 9. Tantum porro multi prsedictoribus hisce tribmint, ut
ipse metus fidem faciat : uam, si prjedictum iis faerittali die eos morbo corripiendos,
ii, ubi dies advenerit. in morbum incidunt : et, vi metus afflicti, cum aegritudine, ali-
quando etiam cum morte, colluctantur.
Mem. 3. Sabs. 2.] Of the Force of Imagination. 1ST
company of him. that was thought to be sick of the plague
(which was not so,) fell down suddenly dead. Another was sick
of the plague with conceit. One, seeing his fellow let blood,
falls down in aswoun. Another(saith a Cardan, out of Aristotle)
fell down dead, (which is familiar to women at any ghastly sight)
seeing but a man hanged. A Jew in France (saith b Lodovicus
Yives) came by chance over a dangerous passage or plank, that
lay over a brook, in the dark, without harm ; the next day, per
ceivingwhat danger he was in,, fell down dead. Many will mol
believe such stories to betrue, but Jaugh commonly, and deride
when they hear of them : but let these men consider with
themselves, (as c Peter Byarus illustrates it) if they were set to
walk upon a plank on high, they would be giddy, upon which
they dare securely walk upon the ground. Many, (saith Agrippa)
d strong hearted men otherwise , tremble at such sights ; dazel ,
and are sick, if they look but, down froman high place ; and
what moves them but conceit ? As some are so molested By
phantasie ; so some again, by fancy alone and a good conceit,
are as easily recovered. We see commonly the tooth-ach, gout,
falling-sickness, biting of a mad dog, and many such maladies,
cured by spells, words, characters, and charms; and many green
wounds, by that n ow so much used unguentum armarium , mag¬
netically cured ; which Crollics and Gocienius in a book of late
have defended, Libaviusin a just tract as stifly contradicts, and
most men controvert, All the world knows there is no vertue in
such charms, or cures, but a strong conceit and opinion alone,
(as 'Pomponatius \io\ds)whichforccth a motion oft he humours,
spirits, and blood ; which takes away the cause of the malady
from the parts affected, The like wc may say of our magical
effects,superstitious cures, and such as are done by mountebanks
and wizards. As, by wicked incredulity, many men are hurt, (so
saith ’ Wierus of charms, spells, &c.) we find, in our expe¬
rience, by the same means many are relieved. An empirick
oftentimes, and a silly chirurgion, doth more strange cures,than
a rational physician, Nymannus gives a reason — because the
patient puts his confidence in him; g which Avicenna prefers
before art, precepts, and all remedies whatsoever , ’Tis opinion
alone, (saith h Cardan) that makes ormarrs physicians ; and he
doth the best cures, according to Hippocrates, in whom most
a Subtil. 18. b Lib. 3. de anima, cap. de mel. c Lib. de Peste. dLib. 1.
cap. 63. Ex alto despicientes, aliqui prae timore contremiscunt, caligant, infirmantur ;
sic singultus, febres, morbi comitiales, qiiandoque sequuntur, quandoque recedunt.
* Lib. de Incantatione. Imaginatio subitum humoram £t spirituum motum infert ;
unde vario affectu rapitur sanguis, ac una morbificas caussas partibus affectis eripit.
f L. 3. c. 18. de praestig. Ut impia credulitate quis laeditur, sic et levari eundem cre¬
dible est, usuque observatum. s iEgri persuasio et fiducia ojnni arti et consilio et
medicinae praeferenda. Avicen. h Plures sanat, in quern plures confidunt. lib. de
sapientia. ,
138
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
trust. - So di versly doth this phantasie of ours affect, turn, and
wind, so imperiously command our bodies, which, as another
3 Proteus, or a cameleon, can take all shapes, and is of such,
force (as Ficinus adds) that it can work upon others, as well as
ourselves. How can otherwise blear-eyes in one man cause the
like affection in another ? Why doth one man’s yawning b make
another yawn ? one mans pissing, provoke a second many times
to do the like ? Why doth scraping of trenchers offend athird,
or hacking of files ? Why doth a carkass bleed, when the mur-
therer is brought before it, some weeks after the murther hath
been done? Why do witches and old women fascinate and be¬
witch children? but (as Wierus, Paracelsus, Cardan, Mizaldus,
Valleriola,CaesarVanninus,Campanella, and many philosophers
think) the forcible imagination of the one party moves and alters
the spirits of the other. Nay more, they can cause and cure not
only diseases, maladies, and several infirmities, by this means, (as
Avicenna, de anim. LA. sect. 4. supposeth) in parties remote,
but move bodies from their places, cause thunder, lightning,
tempests ; which opinion Alkindus, Paracelsus, and some others,
approve of ; so that I may certainly conclude, this strong con¬
ceit or imagination is astfum hominis , and the rudder of this our
ship, which reason should steer, but, over-borne by phantasie,
cannot manage, and so suffers it self and this whole vessel of
ours to be over-ruled, and often over- turned. Read more of
this in Wierus, l. 3. de Landis , c. 8, 9, 10. Franciscus Vale-
sius, med. controv. 1. 5. cont. 6. Marcell us Donatus, l. 2. c. 1.
de hist. med. mirabil. Levinus Lemnius, de occult, nat. mir.
1. 1. c, 12. Cardan, l. 18. de rerum var. Corn. Agrippa, de
occult. Philos, cap . 64, 65. Camerarius, 1. Cent. cap. 54, hora-
rum subcis. Nymannus ,inorat. de lmag. Laurentius, and him
that is instar omnium, Fienus, a famous physician of Antwerp,
that wrote three books de viribus imaginations. I have thus
far digressed, because this imagination is the medium deferens
of passions, by whose means they work and produce many
times prodigious effects ; and as the phantasie is more or less
intended or remitted, and their humours disposed, so do per¬
turbations move more or less, and make deeper impression.
a Marcilius . Ficinns, 1. 13. c. 18. de theolog. Platonioa. Imaginatio est tanquam
Proteus vel chamseleon, corpus proprium et alienum nonnumquam aflSciens. *>Cur
oseitantes oscitent. Wierus.
Mem. 3. Subs. 3.J Division of Perturbations.
139
SUBSECT. III.
Division of Perturbations.
PERTURBATIONS and passions, which trouble the phan-
tasie, though they dwell between the confines of sense and
reason, yet they rather follow sense than reason, because they
are drowned in corporeal organs of sense. They are com¬
monly a reduced into two inclinations, irascible , and concu-
piscible. The Thomists subdivide them into eleven, six in the
coveting , and five in the invading. Aristotle reduceth all to
pleasure and pain ; Plato, to love and hatred ; b Vives, to good
and bad. Ifgood,itis present, and then we absolutely joy and
love : or to come, and then we desire and hope for it : if evil, we
absolutely hate it : if present, it is sorrow ; if to come, fear.
These four passions c Bernard compares to the wheels of a
chariot, by which we are carryed in this world. All other
fiassions are subordinate under these four, or six, as some will —
ove, joy, desire, hatred, sorrow, fear. The rest, as anger, envy,
emulation, pride, jealousie, anxiety, mercy, shame, discontent,
despair, ambition, avarice, &c. are reducible unto the first: and,
if they be immoderate, they d consume the spirits ; and melan¬
choly is especially caused by them. Some few discreet men
there are, that can govern themselves, and curb in those inordi¬
nate affections, by religion, philosophy, and such divine pre¬
cepts of meekness, patience, and the like ; but most part, for
want of government, out of indiscretion, ignorancey they suffer
themselves wholly to be led by sense, and are so far from re¬
pressing rebellious inclinations, that they give all encourage¬
ment unto them, leaving the rains, and using all provocations
to further them. Bad by nature, worse by art, discipline, e cus¬
tom, education, and a perverse will of their own, they follow on,
wheresoever theirunbridled affections will transport them, and
do more out of custom, self will, than out of reason. Contu-
max voluntas (as Melancthou calls it) malum facit : this stub¬
born will of ours perverts judgement, which sees and knows
what should and ought to be done, and yet will not do it.
Mancipiagulce, slaves to their several lusts and appetite, they
precipitate and plunge f themselves into a labyrinth of Cares :
aT. W. Jesuit. , b3. de Anima. c Ser. 35. Hse qnatuor passiones sunt
tamquam rotae in curru, quibus vehimur hoc mundo. d Harum quippe immode-
ta&rae, spiritus marcescunt, Fernel. 1. 1. Path. c. 18. c Mala consaetudine de-
pravatur ingenium, ne bene faciat. Prosper Calenus. 1. de atra bile. Plurafaciunt
homines e consaetudine, quam e ratione.— A teneris assaescere maltnm esfc— Video
atliora proboqae ; deteriora sequor. Ovid. ‘Nemo laeditur, nisi a seipso.
140 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec, 2.
blinded with lust, blinded with ambition, a they seek that at
Gods hands , which they may give unto themselves if they
could hut refrain from those cares and perturbations, where¬
with they continually macerate their mindes. But giving wav
to these violent passions of fear, grief, shame, revenge, hatred,
malice, &c. they are torn in pieces, as Actseon was with his
dogs, and bcrucifie their own souls.
SUBSECT. IV.
Sorrow , a Cause of Melancholy.
Sorrow. T
Insanus dolor. AN this catalogue of passions, which so much
torment the soul of man, and cause this malady, (for I will
briefly speak of them ail, and in their order) the first place
in this irascible appetite may justly be challenged by sor¬
row— an inseparable companion, c the mother and daughter
of melancholy, her epitome, symptome, and chief cause. As
Hippocrates hath it, they beget one another, and tread in a
ring; for sorrow is both cause and symptome of this disease. <
How it is a symptome, shall be shewed in his place. That it is
a cause, all the world acknowledge. Dolor nonnullis insaniee
caussafuit,etaliorummorborum insanabilium, saith Plutarch to
Apollonius a cause of madness, a cause of many other dis¬
eases ; a sole cause of this mischief, d Lemnius calls it. So
doth Rhasis, coni. 1. 1. tract. 0. Guianerius, tract. 15. c. 5.
And, if it take root once, it ends in despair, as e Felix Plater
observes, and, (as in fCebes table) may well be coupled with
it. § Chrysostom, in his seventeenth epistle to Olympia, de¬
scribes it to be a cruel torture of the soul, a most inexplicable
grief, poisoned worm , consuming body and soul, and gnawing
the very heart , a perpetual executioner , continual night, pro-
a Multi se in inquietudinem prsecipitant : ambitione et cupiditatibus excsecati,- non
intelligent se illud a diis petere, quod.sibi ipsis, si.yelint, praestare possint, si curis et .
perturbationibus, qiiibus assidue se maceraht, imperare vellent. hTanto studio
miseriarum caussas, et alimenta dolorum, quserimus ; vitamque, secus felicissimam,'
tristem et miserabilem efficimus. Petrarch, prsefat. de Remediis, &c. c Timor
et meestitia, si diu perseverent, caussa et soboles atri humoris sunt, et in circulum se
procreant. Hip. Aphoris. 23. 1. 6. Idem Mqntaltus, cap. 19. Victorius Eaventinus,
practdmag.. , - d Multi ex moerore et metu hue delapsi' sunt. Lemn. lib. i.
cap. 16. e Malta cura et tristitia faciunt accedere melancholiam : (cap. 3: de
mentis alien.) si altas radices agat, in veram fixamque. degenerant melancholiam, etin
desperationem desinit, . f Ille> Iuctus ; ejus vero soror desperatio simulponitur.
s Animarum crudele tormentum, dolorinexplieabilis, tinea, non solum ossa, sed corda,
pertingens", perpetuus carnifex, vires'animas consumens, jugis nox et tenebne profund®,;
tempestas, et turbo, et febris non appareas, orani igne validius incendens, longior, et
pugna finemnon habens — Grucem circumfert dolor, faciemqne omni tyranno crudelio-
Mem. 3. Subs. 4.] Sorrow, et Cause of Melancholy . 141
found darkness, a whirlwind, a tempest, an ague not appear *
ing, heating worse than any fire, and a battle that hath no end .
It crucifies worse than any tyrant : no torture, no strappado,
no bodily punishment, is like unto it . ’Tis the eagle, without
question, which the poets fained to gnaw a Prometheus heart;
and no heaviness is like unto the heaviness of the heart (Ecclus.
25. .15, 16). b Every perturbation is a misery; but grief a
cruel torment, a domineering passion. As in old Pome, when
the Dictator was created, all inferiour magistracies ceased—
when grief appears, all other passions vanish. It dries up
the bones (saith Solomon, c. VJ. Prov.); makes them hollow-
ey’d, pale, and lean, furrow-faced, to have dead looks, wrinkled
hrows, riveled cheeks, dry bodies, and quite perverts their
temperature, that are misaffected with it ; as Elenora, that
exil’d mournful duchess, (in our 'English Ovid) laments to
her noble husband, Humphrey duke of Gloucester —
Sawest thou those eyes, in whose sweet cheerful look,
Duke Humphrey once such joy and pleasure took,
Sorrow hath so despoil’d me of all grace,
Thou could st not 'say this was my Efnor’s face.
Like a foul Gorgon, &c.
d It hinders concoction, ref rig erates the heart, takes away sto¬
mach, colour, and sleep ; thickens the blood (e Fernelius l. 1.
c. 18. de morb « caussis ), contaminates the spirits, (f Piso) over¬
throws the natural heat, perverts the good estate of body and
mind, and makes them weary of their lives, cry out, howl,
and roar, for very anguish of their souls. David confessed as
much (Psal. 38. 8.) I have roared for the very disquietness of
my heart : and (Psal. 1 19. 4. part. 4. v.) my soul melteth away
for very heaviness: (vers. 88.) I am like abottle in the smoak.
Antiochus complained that he could not sleep, and that his
heart fainted for grief. g Christ himself, vir dolorum, out of
an apprehension of grief, did sweat blood, (Mark 14) : his
soul was heavy to the death, and no sorrow was like unto his.
Crato ( consil . 21. 1. 2) gives instance in one that was so melan¬
choly by reason of b grief; and Montanus {consil. 30) in a noble
aNat. Comes/Mythol. 1. 4. c. 6. Tally, 3. Tasc. omnis perturbatio mi-
seria ; et carnificina est dolor. _ c_ M. Drayton, in his Her. ep. d Crato
consil. 21. lib. 2. mcestitia universum infrigidat corpus, calorem innatam extinguit,
appetituin destruit. e Cor refngerat tristritia, spiritus exsiccat, innatumque calo¬
rem dbruitj vigilias inducit, concoctionem labefactat, sangninem incrassat, exaggeratque
melanchblicum succum. f Spiritus et sanguis hoc contaminate. Piso. s Marc. 6.
16. I j. “ hMoerore maceror, marcesco,. et consenesco, miser : ossa atque pellis snm
roisera macritudine. Plaut
142
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
matron, a that had no other cause of this mischief J- S. D.
(in Hildesheim) fully cured a patient of his, that was much
troubled with melancholy, and for many years ; b hut after¬
wards by a little occasion of sorrow , he fell into his former
fits , and was tormented as before. Examples are common, how
it causeth melancholy, c desperation, and sometimes death it
self ; for (Ecclus. 38. 15.) of heaviness comes death. Worldly
sorrow causeth death (2 Cor- 7. 10. Psal. 31. 10.) My life is
wasted with heaviness , and my years with mourning . Why
was Hecuba said to be turned to a dog? Niobe, into a stone ?
but that for grief she was senseless and stupid. Severus the
emperour d dyed for grief ; and how e many myriads besides!
Tanta illi est feritas, tanta est insania luctfts !
Melancthon gives a reason of it — f the gathering of much me¬
lancholy blood about the heart ; which collection extinguished
the good spirits , or at least dulleth them; sorrow strikes the
heart, makes it tremble and pine aiway, with great pain: and
the black blood, drawn from the spleen^ arid diffused under the
ribs on the left side, maJces those perilous hypochondriacal con¬
vulsions, which happen to them that are troubled with sorrow.
SUBSECT, V.
Fear, a Cause,
Cosen german to sorrow, is fear, or rather a sister,— fidus
Achates, and continual companion— an assistant and a principal
agent in procuring of tips mischief ; a cause and symptomeas
the other. In a word, as s Virgil of the Harpies, I may justly
say of them both,
Tristius haud illis monstrum ; nec ssevior ulla
Pestis, et ira Deiim, Stygiis sese extulit undis.
A sadder monster, or more cruel plague so fell.
Or vengeance of the gods, ne’er came from Styx or Hell.
a Malum incepfum et actum a tristitia sola. _ ' b Hildesheim, speed. 2. de
melancholia. Mcerore animipostea accedente, in priora symptomataincidit. c Vives, 3.
de anima, c. de mcerore, Sabin, in. Ovid. d Herodian. L 3. Moerore magis quara
morbo consumptus est. <= Bothv.'ellius atribilarius obiit, Brizarrus Gennensis
hist. &c. f Mcestitia cor quasi percussum constringitur, tremit, et languescit,
com acri sensu doloris. In tristitia, cor fugiens attrahit ex splene lentum humorem|me-
laneholicura, qui, effusus sub costis in sinistro latere, hypochondriacos flatus facit ; quod
saepe accidit iis qui diuturna cura et mcestitia conflictantur. Melancthon. s Lib. 3.
M n.4.
143
Mem. 3. Subs. 5.] Fear , a Cause.
This foul fiend of fear was worshipped heretofore as a god
by the Lacedaemonians, and most of those other torturing
a affections, and so was sorrow, amongst the rest, under the name
of Angerona Dea ; they stood in such awe of them, as Austin
( deCivitat. Dei,lib. A.cap. S .) noteth outofVarro. Fear was
commonly b adored and painted in their temples with a lions
head ; and (asMacrobius records, 1. 10. Saturnalium) c In
the calends of January, Angerona had her holy day, to whom,
in the temple of Volupia, or goddess of pleasure , their augures
and bishops did yearly sacrifice ; that , being propitious to
them, she might expel all cares , anguish, and vexation of the
•mind, for that year following. Many lamentable effects this
. fear causeth in men, as to be red, pale, tremble, sweat; dit
makes sudden cold and heat to come over all the body, palpi¬
tation of the heart, syncope, &c. It amaze th many men that
are to speak, or shew themselves in publick assemblies, or be¬
fore some great personages, as Tully confessed of himself, that
he trembled still at the beginning of his speech ; and Demos¬
thenes, that great orator of Greece, before Philippus. It con¬
founds voice and memory* as Lucian wittily brings in Jupiter
Tragoedus so much afraid of his auditory, when he was to
make a speech to the rest of the gods, that he could not utter a
ready word, but was compelled to use Mercuries help in prompt¬
ing. Many men are so amazed and astonished with fear, they
know not where they are, what they say, e what they do; and
(that which is worst) it tortures them, many dayes before, with
continual affrights and suspicion. It hinders most honourable
attempts, and makes their hearts ake, sad, and heavy. They that
live in fear, are never free, f resolute, secure, never merry, but
in continual pain ; that, as Vives truly said, nulla est miseria
major quam metus ; ' no greater misery, no rack, no torture,
like unto it ; ever suspicious, anxious, solicitous, they are child¬
ishly drooping without reason, without judgement, s especially
if some terrible object be offered, as Plutarch hath it. It
causeth oftentimes sudden madness, and almost all manner of
diseases, as I have sufficiently illustrated in my h digression of
the Force of Imagination, and shall do more at large in my
a Et metum ideo deam sacrarunt, ut bonara rnentem concederet Varro, Lactati-
tius, Aug. b Lilius- Girald. Syntag. 1. de diis tniscellaneis. c Galendis
Jan. ferise sunt divas Axgeronse, cui pontifices in sacello V olupiae sacra faciunt, quod
angores .et animi solicitudines propitiata propellat « Timor inducit
frigus, cordis palpitationem, vocis defectum, atque pallorem. Agrippa, 1. 1. c. 63.
Timidi semper spiritus habeiit frigidos. Mont e EfFusas cernens fugientes
agmine turmas, Quis mea nunc inflat cornua ? Faunas ait. Alciaf. f Metus
noa solum memoriam consternat, sed et institutnm animi omne et laudabilem cona-
tum impedit Thucydides. 5 Lib. de fortitudine et virtute Alexandri. - Ub
prope res adfuit terribilis. h Sect. 2. Mem, 3. Subs. 2. . .
144 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
section of aTerrours. Fear makes our imagination conceive
what it list, invites the devil to come to us, (as b Agrippa and
Cardan avouch), and tyrannizeth over our p ban tasie more than
all other affections, especially in the dark. We see this verified
in most men ; as cLavater saith, quce metuunt, fingunt ; what
they fear they. conceive, and faign unto themselves ; they think
they see goblins, haggs, devils,, and many times become
melancholy thereby. Cardan (subtil, lib. 18.) hath an example
of such an one, so caused to be melancholy (by sight of a bug¬
bear) all his life after. Augustus Caesar durst not sit in the
dark; nisi aliquo assidente, saith d Suetonius, numquam tone-
bris evigilavit. And ’tis strange what women and children
will conceive unto themselves, if they go over a church-yard
in the night, lye or be alone in a dark room ; how they sweat
and tremble on a sudden. Many men are troubled with future
events, foreknowledge of their fortunes, destinies, as Severus
the emperour, Adrian and Domitian % quod sciret ultimum
vitae diem , saith Seutonius, valde soUcitus ; much tortured in
mind because he foreknew his end ; with many such, of
which I shall speak more opportunely in e another place.
Anxiety, mercy, pitty, indignation, &c* and such fearful
branches derived from these two stems of fear and sorrow, I
voluntarily omit. Read more of them in f Carolus Pascalius,
* Dandinus, &c.
SUBSECT. VI. '
Shame arid Disgrace, Causes.
Shame and disgrace cause most violent passions, and bit¬
ter pangs. Oh pudorem, et dedecus publicum, ob errorem
commissum , scepe moventur generosi animi (Felix Plater, lib.
'3. de alienat. mentis ) .♦ Generous minds are often moved with
shame, to despair, for some publick disgrace. And he (saith
Philo, lib. 2. de provid. del) h that subjects himself to fear,
grief, ambition, shame, is not happy, but altogether miserable,
tortured with continual labour, care, and misery. It is as
forcible a batterer as any of the rest. 1 Many men neglect the
tumults of the world, and care not for glory , and, yet they are
a Sect 2. Mem. 4. Sabs. 3. b Subtil- 18. lib. Timor attrahit ad se daemonas.
Timor et error maltam in hominibus possunt c Lib. de Spectns, ca. 3. Fortes
raro spectra vident. quia minus timent d Vita ejus. e Sect. 2. Memb. 4.
Subs. 7, fDe virt et vitiis. e Com. in Arist de Anima. hQui
mentem subjecit timoris dominationi, cupiditatis, doloris, ambitionis, pudoris, felk
non est, sed omnino miser. : assiduis laboribus torquetur et miseria. » Multi
contemnunt mundj strepitnm, reputant pro nihilo gloriam, sed timent infamiam, of.
fensionem, repulsam. . Voluptatem severissime contemnunt’; in dolore sunt molli-
ores ; gloriam negligunt ; franguntur infamia.
Mem. 3. Subs. 6.] Shame and Disgrace, Causes. 145,
afraid of infamy, repulse, disgrace: ( Tul . offic. 1. 1.) they can
severely contemn pleasure, bear grief indifferently; but they
are quite a battered and broken with reproach and obloquy
(siquidem vita et fama pari passu ambulant ), and are so de¬
jected many times for some public injury, disgrace, as a box
on the ear by their inferiour, to be overcome of their adversary,
foiled in the field, to be out in a speech, some foul fact corn-
mitted or disclosed, &c. that they dare not come abroad all
their lives after, butmelancholize in corners, and keep inholes.
The most generous spirits are most subject to it. Spiritus altos
frangit et generdsos: Hieronym. Aristotle, because he could
not understand the motion of Euripus, for grief and shame
drowned himself : Cadius Rodoginus ( antiquar . lec. lib. 29.
cap. 8.) Homerus pudore consumptus, was swallowed up with
this passiort of shame, b because he could not unfold the fish¬
erman’s riddle. Sophocles killed himself, cfor that a tra¬
gedy of his was hissed off the stage. (Valer. Max. lib. 9.
cap. 12.) Lucretia stabbed her self ; and so did d Cleopatra,
when she saw she that was reserved for a triumph, to avoid
the infamy . Antonius, the Roman, e after he was overcome
of his enemy, for three days space sat solitary in the fore-part
of the ship, abstaining from all company, even of Cleopatra
her self, and afterwards, for very shame, butchered himself
(Plutarch, vita ejus). Apollonius Rhodius f wilfully banished
himself, forsaking his countrey, and all his dear frie^ids, because
he was out in reciting his poems , (Plinius, lib. 7- cap. 23).
Ajax ran mad, because his arms were ajudged to Ulysses. 1 n
China, ’tis an ordinary thing for such as are excluded in those
famous tryals of theirs, or should take degrees, for shame and
grief to lose their wits g (Mat. Riccius, expedit. ad Sinas, l. 3.
c.,9). Hostratus the fryer took that book which Reuclin had
writ against him, under the name of Epist. obscurorum viro-
rum, so to heart, that, for shame and grief, he made away him¬
self11 (ffovius,in elogiis ) . A grave and learned minister, and an
ordinary preacher at Alcrnar in Holland, was (one day, as he
walked in the fields for his recreation) suddenly taken with a
lask or looseness, and thereupon compelled to retire to the next
a Graving contumeliam ferimus quam detrimentum, ni abjectonimis animo simus.
Pint, in Tiiuol. b Quod piscatoris asnigma solvere non posset. c Ob
tragosdiam explosam, mortem sibi gtadio conscivit. , A Com vidit in triumphom
se servari, caussa ejus ignominise vitaiidse mortem sibi conscivit. Pint. e Bel¬
lo victas, per tres dies sedit in prora navis, abstinens ab omni consortio, etiam
Cleopatra; postea se interfecit. . f Cum male recitasset Argonautica, ob pudo-
rem extrlavit. i Qoidam, pr» verectradia- simul et dolore, in insaniam incidunt,
eo qnod a Jiteratorum gradu in examine excluduntur. hHostratus cucnllatus
adeo graviter ob Reuclini librum, qui insoribitur, Epistolse obscurorum virorum,
dolore simul et pudore sauciatus, ut seipsum interfecerit.
v146 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
ditch ; but, being a surprized at unawares by some gentle¬
woman of his parish wandering that way, was so abashed, that
he did never after shew his head in publick, or come into the
pulpit, but pined away with melancholy : Pet. Forestus, med.
observat.lib.AO.observat. 12.) So shame amongst other
passions can play his prize.
I know there be many base, impudent, brazen-faced rogues,
that will b nulla pallescere culpa , be moved with nothing,
take no infamy or disgrace to heart, laugh at all ; let them be
proved perjured, stigmatized, convict rogues, thieves, trai-
tours, lose their ears, be whipped, branded, carted, pointed at,
-hissed, reviled, and derided, (with cBallio the baud in Plautus)
they rejoy ce at it; cantor es probos! hahce ! and bombax ! what
care they ? We have too many such in our times.
— — Exclamat Melicerta perlsse
Frontem de rebus.
Yet a modest man, one thathath grace, a generous spirit, ten¬
der of bis reputation, will be deeply wounded, and so grievously
affected with it, that he had rather give myriads of crowns, lose
his life, than suffer the least defamation of honour, or blot in his
good name. .And, if so be that he cannot avoid it,— as a night¬
ingale, quce, cantando victa, moritur, (saith d Mizaldus) dies
for shame, if another bird sing better— he languisheth and
pineth away in the anguish of his spirit.
SUBSECT. VII.
Envy , Malice j Hatred , Causes.
ENVY and malice are two links of this chain ; and both
(asGuianerius, Tract. 15. cap. 2. proves out of Galen, 3 Apho¬
rism. com. 22.) e cause this malady by themselves, especially if
their bodies be otherwise disposed to melancholy. ’Tis Valescus
de Taranta and Felix Platerus observation : i envy so gnawes
many men’s hearts , that they become altogether melancholy.
And therefore, belike, Solomon ( Prov . 14. 13.) calls it, the
rotting of the bones; Cyprian, vulnus occultum.
a Prompter ruborem confusus, stati coepit delirare, &c. ob suspicionem, qnod
vili ilium crimine accusarent b Horat. _ cPs. Impndice. B. Ita est. Ps.
sceleste. B. dicis vera. Ps. verbero. B. quippini? Ps. furcifer. B. factam optime.
Ps. sociofiande. B. sunt mea istaec. Ps. parricida. B. perge ta. P. sacrilege. B. fa-
teor. Ps. perjure. B. vera dicis. Ps. pernicies adolescentnm. B. acerrime. Ps. for.
B. babas! Ps. fugitive. B. bombax! Ps. fraus populi. B. planissime. Ps. impure le-
no, ccenum. B. cantores probos ! Pseudolus, act. 1. seen. 3. d Cent. 7. e
Plinio. e Multos videmus, propter invidiam et odium, in melancholiam inci-
disse ; et illos potissimum quorum corpora ad hanc apta sunt. / Invidia affli-
git homines adeo et corrodit, ut hi melancholici penitus fiant
147
Mem. 3. Subs. 7.] Envy , Malice, Hatred, Causes.
- - — aSiculi non invenere tyranni
Majus tormentum :
the Sicilian tyrants never invented the like torment. It cru¬
cifies their souls, withers theirbodies,makes them hollow-ey’d,
bpale, lean, and ghastly to behold (Cyprian, ser. 2. de zelo et
livore). c Asa moth gnaws a garment, so, (saith Chrysostome)
doth envy consume a man ; to be a living anatomy, a skeleton ;
to be a lean and Apale carcass, quickened with a e fiend (Hall, in
Charact.); for, so often as an envious wretch sees another man
prosper, to be enriched, to thrive, and be fortunate in the world,
to get honours, offices, or the like, he repines, and grieves :
* — — - — fintabescitque videndo
Successus hominum ....
Suppliciumque suum est:
he tortures himself, if his equal, friend, neighbour, be preferred,
commended, do well ; if he understand of it, it gauls him
afresh; and no greater pain can come to him, than to hear of
another mans well doing ; ’tis a dagger to his heart, every
such object. He looks at him (as they that fell down in Lucians
rock of honour) with an envious eye, and will damage him¬
self to do the other a mischief, ( Atque cadet subito , dum super
hoste cadat) as he did, in iEsop, lose one eye willingly, that his
fellow might lose both, or that rich man, in g Quintilian,
that poysoned the flowers in his garden, because his neigh¬
bours bees should get no more honey from them. His whole
life is sorrow ; and every word he speaks, a satyre ; nothing
fats him but other mens ruines; for, to speak in a word, envy is
nought else but tristitia de bonis alienis, sorrow for other
mens good, be it present, past or to come ; et gaudium de
adversis, and h joy at their harms, opposite to mercy, ‘which
grieves at other mens mischances, and misaffects the body in
another kind; so Damascen defines it, lib. 2. de orthod. fid.
Thomas, 2. 2. qucest. 36. art. 1. Aristotle, l. 2. Rhet.c. 4. et
10. Plato, Philebo. Tully, 3. Tusc. Greg. Nic. 1. de virt.
a Hor. bHis vultus minax,torvus aspectus, pallor in facie, in labis tremor,
stridor in.dentibus, &c. sUt tinea corrodit vestimentum, sic invidia enm, qni
zelatur, eonsumit. d Pallor in ore sedet, macies in corpore toto. Nusquam
recta acies; livent rubigine dentes. eDiaboli expressa imago, toxioum charitatis,
venenum amiciti®, abyssus mentis ; non est eo monstrosius monstrum, damnosius
damnum: urit, torret, discruciat, macie et squalore conficit. Austin. Domin. prim. Ad¬
vent f Ovid. g Declam. 13, linivitflores maleficis succis, in venenum mella
coivertens. h Statuis cereis Basilius eos comparat, qui liquefiunt ad prmsentiam
solis, qua alii gaudent et ornantur; muscis alii,qu* ulceribus gaudent, amcena pr®ter-
eunt, sistunt in foetidis. ' Misericordia etiam, qu® tristitia qu®dam est, s®pe
miserantis corpus male afficit. Agrippa, 1. 1 . cap. 63. .
148
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
anivue, c. 12. Basil, ds Invidid. Pindar us, Od. 1 . ser. 5 ;’and
we find it true. ’Tis a common disease, and almost natural to
us, (as a Tacitus holds) to envy another mans prosperity : and
’tis in most men an incurable disease. b / have read, saith
Marcus Aurelius, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee authors ; I have
consulted with many wise men, for a remedy for envy: I could
find none, hut to renounce all happiness, and to be a wretch,
and miserable for ever . ’Tis the beginning of hell in this life
and a passion not to be excused. c Every other sin hath some
pleasure annexed to it, or will admit of an excuse ; envy alone
wants both . Other sins last but for a while : the gut may be
satisfied; anger' remits ; hatred hath an end ; envy never
ceaseth. (Cardan lib.2. de sap.') Divine and humane examples
are very familiar : you may run and read them, as that of Saul
and David, Cain and Abel : angebat ilium non proprium pec *
catum, sed fratris prosperitas, saith Theodoret ; it was his
brothers good fortune gauled him. Rachel envied her sister,
being barren, (Gen. 30) Josephs brethren, him (Gen. 37.)
David had a touch of this vice, as he confessed! (dPsal. 37), eJe-
remy and f Habbakuk : they repined at others good : but in the
end they corrected theiUselves. Psal. 75’: fret not thyself, fyc.
Domitian spited Agricola for his worth, s that a private man
should be so much glorified. h Csecinna was envyed of his fel¬
low-citizens, because he was more richly adorned. But, of all
others, / women are most weak : ob pulchritudinem, invidios
suntfemince (Museeus) : aut amat, aut odit : nihil est tertium
(Granatensis) : they love, or hate : no medium amongst them,
Implacabiles plerumque Icesce mulieres. Agrippina like, k«
woman , if she see her neighbour more neat and elegant, richer in
tires, jewels, or apparel, is enraged, and, like a lioness, sets upon
her husband, rails at her, scoffs at her, and cannot abide her ;
so the Roman ladies, in Tacitus, did at Solanina,Caecinna’s wife,
1 because she had abetter horse, and better furniture ; Os if she
had hurt them with it, they were much offended. In like sort
oqr gentlewomen do at their usual meetings ; one repines or
aInsitum mortalibus a natnra recentem aliorum felicitatem asgris ocnlis intueri.
Hist. 1. 2. Tacit. *> Legi Chaldaeos, Grascos, Hebrgeos ; consului sapientes,
pro remedio invidise ; hoc enim inveni, renunciare felicitati, et perpetuo miser esse.
c Omne peccatum aut excusationem. secum habet, aut voluptatem ; sola invidia utraque
caret Reliqua vitia finem habent ; ira defervescit ; gula satfatnr ; odium finem habet,
invidia numquam quiescit dUrebat me asmulatio propter stultos. e Hier.
12.1. fHab. 1. S Invidit privati nomen supra principis attolli. h Tacit
Hist. lib. 2. part 6. * Periturse dolore et invidia, si quam viderint ornatiorem se in
publicum prodiisse. Platina, dial, amornm. k Ant. Guianerius, lib. 2. cap. 8.
vit. M. Aurelii. Femina, vicinam elegantius se vestitam videns, Isense instar in virnm
insurgit, &c. I Quod insignis equp ef ostro veheretur, quamquam nullius cum
injuria, omatnm fllum, tanquam lsesas, gravabantur.
Mem. 3. Subs. 8.] ^Emulation, Hatred, Arc. 1.49
scoffs at anothers bravery and happiness, Myrsine, an Attick
wench, was murthered of her fellows, a because she did excel the
rest in beauty , (Constantine, Agricult. 1. 11. c. 7). Every
village will yield such examples.
SUBSECT. VIII.
Emulation , Hatred, Faction, Desire, of Revenge, Causes.
OlJT of this root of envy,b spring those feral branches of fac¬
tion, hatred j livor, emulation, which cause the like grievances,
and are serrce animce,ihe sawesof the soul ,cconsternationis pleni
affectus , affections full of desperate amazement ; or, as Cyprian
describes emulation, it is d a moth of the soul, a consumption, to
make another mans happiness his misery, to torture, cruciji.e,and
execute himself, to eat his own heart. Meat and drink can do
such men no good : they do always grieve, sigh, and groan , day
and night without intermission ; their breast is torn a sunder :
and a little after, e whosoever lie is whom thou dost emulate and
envy , he may avoid thee ; hut thou const neither avoid Mm, nor
thyself. Wheresoever thou art , he is with thee; thine enemy
is ever in thy breast ; thy destruction is within thee ; thou art a
captive bound hand, and foot, as long as thou art malicious and
envious, and const not he comforted. It was the devils over¬
throw ; and, whensoever thou art thoroughly affected witli this
passion, it will be thine. Yet no perturbation so frequent, no
passion so common.
fKai jmtsU, xay rsxrtvi ttv.'tm
itraypz (pQoveei, xoti <zoi$oS cco^ai.
A potter emulates a potter ;
One smith envies another :
A beggar emulates a beggar ;
A singing man his brother.
aQuod pulchritudine omnes excelleret, puell® indignat® Occiderunt. hLate
patet invidi® fecunda pernities ; . et livor radix omnium malorum, fons cladium : inde
odium surgit, ®mulatio. Cyprian, ser. 2.|de Livore. ^Valerius, 1. 3. cap. 9.
A Qualis est animi tinea; quae tabes pectoris, zelare in altero,vel aliorum felicitatem suam
facere miseriam, et velut quosdam pectori suo admovere carnifices, cogitationibus et
sensibus suis adhibere tortores, qui se intestinis cruciatibus lacerent ? Noncibus talibus
lastus, non potus potest esse jucnndus ; suspiratur semper et gemitur, etdoletur dies et
noctes ; pectus sine intermissione lacerator. e Quisquis est ille, quern asmularis,
cui invides, is te subterfugere potest ; at tu nonte : ubicunque fugeris, adversariustuus
tecum est; hostis tuus semper in pectore tuo est, pernities intus inclusa : ligatus es,
vinctus, zelo dommante captivus : nec solatia'tibi ulla siibveniunt : hinc diabolus, inter
initia statim mundi, et periit primus, et perdidit. Cyprian, ser. 2. de zelo et livore.
f Hesiod, op. et dies.
150
Causes of Melancholy . [Part, 1. Sec. 2.
Every society, corporation, and private family, is full of it ;
it takes hold almost of all sorts of men, from the prince to the
ploughman ; even amongst gossips itis to be seen ; scarce three
in a company, but there is siding, faction, emulation, between
two of them, some simultas, jarr, private grudge, heart-burning
in the midst of them. Scarce two gentlemen dwell together
in the country, (if they be not near kin or linked in marriage)
but there is emulation betwixt them and their servants, some
quarrel or some grudge betwixt their wives or children, friends
and followers, some contention about wealth, gentry, pre¬
cedency, &c. by means of which, (like the frog in a iEsop,
that would swell till she was as big as an ox, , but burst her
self at last) they will stretch beyond their fortunes, call¬
ings, and strive so long, that they consume their substance in.
law-suits, or otherwise in hospitality, feasting, fine clothes,,
to get a few bumbast titles ; for ambitiosd paupertate labora-
mus ormies ; to outbrave one another, they will tire their bodies,
macerate their souls, and, through contentions or mutual in¬
vitations, beggar themselves. Scarce two great scholars in an
age, but with bitter invectives they fall foul one on the other,
and their adherents— Scotists, Thomists, Reals, Nominals,
Plato and Aristotle, Galenists and Paracelsians, &c. it holds,
in all professions.
Honest b emulation in studies, in all callings, is not to be dis¬
liked: ’tisingeniorum cos, as one calls it — the whetstone of wit,
the nurse of wit and valour; and those noble Romans, out of
this spirit, did brave exploits. There is a modest ambition,
as Themistocles was roused up with the glory of Mil tiades;
Achilles trophies moved Alexander.
c Ambire semper stulta confidentia est : • , .
Ambire numqaam deses arrogantia est :
’tis a sluggish humour not to emulate or sue at all, to with¬
draw himself, neglect, refrain from such places, honours, offices,
through sloth, niggardliness, fear, bashfulness, or otherwise,
to which, by his birth, place, fortunes, education, he is called,
apt, fit, and well able to undergo : but, when it is immoderate,
it is a plague and a miserable pain. What a deal of money did
Henry the eighth, and Francis the first, king of France, spend
at that d famous interview! and how many vain courtiers, seek¬
ing each to outbrave other, Spent themselves, their lively-hood
andfortunes,and dyed beggars ! e Adrian the emperour was so
galled with it, that he killed all his equals ; so did Nero. This
a Rana, cupida aequandi bovem, se disfendebat, &c. b iEmulatio alit- ingenia.
Paterculus* poster. Vol. cGrotius* Epig. lib. 1. , d Anno 1519, betwixt
Aides and Quine. e Spartian.
151
Mem. 3. Subs. 8.] ^Emulation, Hatred , &c.
passion made 3 Dionysius the tyrant banish Plato and Philoxe-
nus the poet, because they did excell and eclipse his glory, as
he thought ; the Romans exile Coriolanus, confine Camillus,
murder Scipio ; the Greeks, by ostracism, to expel Aristides,
Micias, Alcibiades, imprison Theseus, make away Phocion,&c.
When Richard the first, and Philip of France, were fellow soul-
diers together at the siege of Aeon, in the Holy land, and
Richard had approved himself to be the more va!iantman,in so
much that all mens eyes were upon him, it so gauled Philip,
( Francum urebai regis victoria , saith mine b author ; tamcegre
ferebat Richardi gloriam , ut carpere dicta, calumniari facta )
that he cavilled at all his proceedings, and fell at length to open
defiance. He could contain no longer, but, hasting home, in¬
vaded his territories, and professed open war. Hatred stirs up
contention, (Prov. 10. 12); and they break out at last into im¬
mortal enmity, into virulency, and more thanVantinian hate ami
rage ; c they persecute each other, their friends, followers, and
all their posterity, with bitter taunts, hostile wars, scurril invec-
tives, libels, calumnies, fire, sword, and the like, and will not be
reconciled. Witness that Guelf and Gibelline faction in Italy;
that of the Adurni and Fregosi in Genoa; that of Cneius
Papirius and Quintus Fabius in Rome ; Caesar and Pompey ;
Orleans and Burgundy in France; York and Lancaster in
England. , Yea, this passion so rageth d many times, that
it subverts, not men only, and families, but even populous
cities. e Carthage and Corinth can witness as much ; nay
flourishing kingdoms are brought into a wilderness by it.
This hatred, malice, faction, and desire of revenge, invented
first all those racks, and wheels, strappadoes, brazen bulls, feral
engines, prisons, inquisitions, severe laws, to macerate and tor¬
ment one another. How happy might we be, and end our time
with blessed days, and sweet content, if we could contain our
selves, and, as we ought to do, put up injuries, learn humility,
meekness, patience, forget and forgi ve, (as in fGods word we
areinjoyned), compose such final controversies amongst our
selves,- moderate our passions in this kind, and think belter of
others (as § Paul would have us) than of our selves ; be of like
affection one towards another , and not avenge our selves , but
have peace with all men. But being that we are so peevish and
perverse, insolent and proud, so factious and seditious, so mali-
a Plutarch. b Johannes Heraldus, 1. 2. c. 12. de hello sac. c Nulla dies
tantum poterit lenire furorem. — JSterna bella pace sublata gerunt. — Jurat odium,
nec ante invisum esse desinit, quam esse desiit. Paterculus, voK 1. d Ita sajvit
hasc Stygia ministra, ut. urbes subvertat aliquando, deleat populos, provincias alioqui
florentes redigat in solitudines, mortales vero miseros in profunda miseriarum valle
ffliserabiliter immergat. e Carthago, semula Romani imperii, funditus interiit,
Sallust. Catil. _ f Paul. 3. Col. s Rom. 12.
T
152
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
cious and en vious, we do invicem angarigre , maul and vex one
another, torture, disquiet, and precipitate our selves into that
g ulf of woes and cares, aggravate our misery and melancholy,
heap upon us hell and eternal damnation.
SUBSECT. IX.
Anger , a Cause.
AnGEB, a perturbation which carries the spirits outwards,
preparing the body to melancholy, and madness it self—
ira furor brevis est ; and (as a Piccoiomineus accounts it) one
of the three most violent passions. b Aretaeus sets it down for an
especial cause (so doth Seneca, ep. 18. 1. 1.) of this malady.
c Magninus gives the reason ; exjrequenti ira supra modum
calefiunt ; it over-heats their bodies ; and, if it be too frequent,
it breaks out into manifest madness, saith S. Ambrose. 5Tis a
known saying ; furor fit laesa saspius patientia ; the most pa-
tient spirit that is, if he be often provoked, will be incensed to
madness ; it will make a devil of a saint; and therefore Basil
(belike) in his Homily de Ira, calls it tenebr as rationis,mor-
bum animce et dcemonem pessimum ; the darkning of our under¬
standing, and a bad angel. d Lucian (in Abdicato, Tom. 1.)
will have this passion to work this effect, especially in old
men and women. Anger and calumny (saith he) trouble them
at first, and, after a while, break out into open madness : many
things cause fury in women, especially if they love or hate
overmuch, or envy, be. much grieved or angry; these things,
by little and little, lead them on to this malady. From a dis¬
position, they proceed to an habit; for there is no difference
betwixt a mad man and an angry man, in the time of his fit.
Anger, as Lactantius describes it, (L. de Ira Dei , ad Donatum,
c. 5) is e sasva animi tempestas, fyc. a cruel tempest of the mind,
making his eyes sparkle fire, and stare, teeth gnash in Ms head,
his tongue stutter, his face pale or red ; and what more filthy
imitation can be of a mad man ?
a Grad. 1. c. 54. b Ira, et moeror, et ingens" animi constematio, melancho-
licos facit. Aretaens. Ira immodica gignit insaniam. c Reg. sanit. parte 2.
c. 8. In apertam insaniam rdox dncitnr iratus. _ _ d Gilberto Cognato interpret.
Mnltis, et prsesertim senibus,, ira impotens insaniam facit, et importuna calnmnia :
hsec initio perturbat animum ; panllatim vergit ad insaniam.^ Porro mnliernm corpora
multa infestant, et in kune morbnm adducunt, prsecipne si qnse oderint aut invi-
deant, &c. hsec panllatim in insaniam tandem evadunt. e Ssexa animi tempestas,
tantos excitans fluctus,'ui statim ardescant oculi, os tremat, lingna titubet, dentes coa-
crepent, &c. . . _ . /_ . . 3
Mem, 3. Subs. 9.] Ange> *, a Cause. 158
a Ora tument ira ; fervescunt sanguine venae ;
Lumina Gorgoneo ssevius angue micant.
They are void of reason, inexorable, blind, like beasts and
monsters for the time, say and do they know not wliat, curse
swear, rail, fight and what not t How can a mad man do
more ? as he said in the comedy, b iracundia non sum apud
me; I am not mine own man. If these fits be immoderate,
continue long, or be frequent, without doubt they provoke
madness. Montanus ( consil . 21) had a melancholy Jew to his
patient; he ascribes this for a principal cause : irdscebatur le-
vibus de caussis ; he was easily moved to anger. Ajax had no
other beginning of his madness; and Charles the sixth, that
lunatick French king, fell into this misery, out of the extre¬
mity of his passion, desire of revenge, and malice ; c incensed
against the duke of Britain, he could neither eat, drink, nor
sleep for some days together : and in the end, about the calends
of July, 1392, he became mad upon his horse-back, drawing
his sword, striking such as came neer him promiscuously, and
so continued all the days of his life. (JEmil. lib. 10. Gal. hist.)
Hegesippus (de excid. urbis Jlieros. 1. 1. c. 37) hath such a
story of Herod, that, out of an angry fit, became mad, and leap¬
ing out of his bed, he killed Jossippus, and played many such
Bedlam pranks. The whole court could not rule him for a long
time after. Sometimes he was sorry and repented, much grieved
for that he had done, postquam deferbuit ira ; by and by out-
ragious again. In hot cholerick bodies, nothing so soon
causeth madness, as this passion of anger, besides many other
diseases, as Pelesius observes, (Cap. 21. 1. 1. de hum. affect,
caussis ) Sanguinem imminuit, fel auget : and, as eYalesius
controverts, (Med. contirov. lib. 5. contjro. 8.) many times kills
them quite out. If this were the worst of this passion, it were
more tolerable : f hut it mines and subverts whole towns,
g cities, families, and kingdoms. Nulla pestis humano generi
pluris stetit, saith Seneca, (de Ira, lib. 1.) no plague hath done
mankindso much harm. Look into our histories ; andyoushall
almost meet with no other subject, but what a company ‘’of
Hair-brains have done in their rage. We may do well, there¬
fore, to put this in our procession amongst the rest t From all
blindness of heart, from pride, vginrglory, and hypocrisy, from
envy, hatred, and malice, anger, and all such pestiferous per-*
turbations, good Lord, deliver us l
aOyid. b Terence. elnfensus Britaunise duci, et in ultionem versus,
nee cibum cepit, nee quietem ; ad Calendas Julias, 1395J, comites occidil. d In-
dignatione nimii furens, animique irnpotens, exsiliit de lecto : furentem non; capiebat
anla,&c. ®An ira possit hominem interimere. fAbernetby. sAs
Troy, saevas memoreni Junonis ob iram. h Stultorum regnm et populorum con-
tiaet sestus.
T 2
154
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2
SUBSECT. X.
Discontents , Cares, Miseries, 8fc. Causes.
Discontents, cares, crosses, miseries, or whatsoever it
is that shall cause any molestation of spirits, grief, anguish, and
perplexity, may well be reduced to this head. Preposterously
placed here, in some mens judgements, they may seem : yet, in
that Aristotle in his aK,hetorick defines these cares, as he doth
envy , emulation, &c. still by grief, I think I may well rank them
in this irascible row; being that they are, as the rest, both causes
and symptomes of this disease, producing- the like inconveni¬
ences, and are, most part, accompanied with anguish and pain
fthe common etymology will evince it — cura,quasicorura)\ de-
mentes curce, insomnes cur ce, damnosce cures, tristes , mordaces,
carnifices, Sfc. biting, eating, gnawing, cruel, bitter, sick, sad,
unquiet,pale,tetrick, miserable, intolerable cares (as the poets’’
call them) ; worldly cares, and areas many in number as the sea
sands. cGalen, Fern elius, Felix Plater, Vales cus deTaranta, &c,
reckon afflictions, miseries, even all these contentions, and vexa¬
tions of the mind, as principal causes, in that they take away
sleep, hinder concoction, dry up the body, and consume the
substance of it. They are not so many in number, but their
causes be as divers, and not one of a thousand free from them,
or that can vindicate himself, whom that Ate dea—
d Per hominum capita molliter ambulans,
Plantas pedum teneras habens—
J Over mens heads walking aloft, .
With tender feet treading so soft—
Homers goddess Ate, hath not involved into this discontented
* rank, or plagued with some misery or other. Hyginus
(fab. 220) to this purpose hath a pleasant tale. Dame Cura by
chance went over a brook, and, taking up some of the dirty
slime, made an image of it. Jupiter, eftsoons coming by, put
life to it; but Cura and Jupiter could not agree what name to
give him, or who should own him. The matter was referred to
a Lib. 2. Tnvidia est dolor, etambitio est dolor, &c. bInsomnes, Claudianns.
tristes, Virg. mordaces> Lac. edaces, Hor. moestse, amarae, Ovid. damnos», inqniete.
Mart, urentes, rodentes, Mant. &c. _ c Galen. 1. 3. c. 7, de locis affectis. Homines
sunt maxime melancholici, qnando vigil iis multis,; et solicitndinibus, et laboribos, et
enris, fuerint circunrventi. d Lucian, Podag. e Omnia imperfecta, confusa,
et perturbatione plena. Cardan.
]55
Mem. 3. Subs. 10.] Discontents, Cares, fyc.
Saturn as judge : he gave this arbitrement : his name shall be
Homo ab Tiumo : Cura eum possideat quamdiu vivat : Care
shall have him whil’st he lives ; Jupiter his soul, and Tellus his
body when he dies. But, to leave tales — A general cause, a
continuate cause, an inseparable accident to all men, is dis¬
content, care, misery. W ere there no other particular afflie- .
tion (which who is free from f) to molest a man in this life, the
very cogitation of that common misery were enough to mace¬
rate, and make him weary of his life ; to think that he can
never be secure, but still in danger, sorrow, grief, and perse¬
cution. For, to begin at the hour of his birth, as a Pliny doth
elegantly describe it, he is born naked, and Jails b a whining
at the very first; he is swadled and bound up, like a prisoner ;
cannot help himself ; and so he continues to his lives end ;
cuj usque fierce pabulum, saith c Seneca, impatient of heat and
cold, impatient of labour, impatient of idleness, exposed to
Fortunes contumelies To a naked marriner Lucretius com¬
pares him, cast on shore by shipwrack, cold and comfortless
in an unknown land : dNo estate, age, sex, can secure himself
from this common misery. A man, that is born ofi a woman ,
is ofi short continuance, and full of trouble (Job 14. 1. 22) ;
and, while hisfiesh is upon him, he shall be sorrowful: and,
while his soul is in him, it shall mourn. All his days are sor¬
row, and his travels grief: his heart also taketh not rest in the
night; (Ecclus. 2. 28. and 2. 11) all that is in it, is sor¬
row and vexation of spirit ; e ingress, progress, regress, egress,
much alike. Blindness seizeth on us in the beginning, labour
in the middle, grief in the end, err our in all. What day ariseth
to us, without some grief , care, or anguish ? or what so secure
and pleasing a morning have we seen , that hath not been over¬
cast before the evening ? One is miserable, another ridiculous,
a third odious. One complains of this grievance, another of
that. Aliquando nervi, aliquando pedes, vexant, (Seneca) nunc
destillatio, nunc hepatis morbus ; nunc deest, nunc superest,
sanguis : now the head akes, then the feet, now the lungs, then
the liver, &c. Huic census exuberat ; sed est pudori degener
sanguis, fyc. He is rich, but base born; he is noble, but
poor : a third hath means; but he wants health, perad venture,
or wit to manage his estate. Children vex one, wife a second,
&c. Nemo facile cum conditione sua concordat, no man is
aLib. 7. nat hist. cap. 1. Hominem nudum et ad vagitum edit natura. Flens ah
initio, devinctus jacet, &c.
b Aaxpv%s«y ysvcpwiy, xcu ^acxfvffxg Mro§vr>axu‘
Tu ysvo? avSpWTTMv vaXAocxgvrm, oixrpov.
Lacrymans natns sum, et lacrymans morior, Sec. <= AdMarinum. d Boethius.
e Initinm csecitas, progression labor, exitum dolor, errer omnia : qnem tranquillum,
quaeso, quern non laboriosum aut anxium diem egimus ? Petrarch.
156
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
pleased with his fortune ; a pound of sorrow is familiarly mixt
with a dram of content ; little or no joy, little comfort, but
a every where danger, contention, anxiety in all places. Go
where thou wilt ; and thou shalt find discontents, cares, woes,
complaints, sickness, diseases, incumbrances, exclamations.
If thou look into the market, there (saith b Chrysostom) is
brawling and contention ; if to the court, there knavery and
flattery, fyc. if to a private mams house, there’s cark and care,
heaviness, &?c. As he said of old,
c Nil homine in terrd spiral miserum magis alma:
No creature so miserable as man, so generally molested, Ain
miseries of body, in miseries of mind, miseries of heart , in
miseries asleep, in miseries awake , in miseries wheresoever he
turns , as Bernard found. Numquid tentatio est vita humana
super terram ? A meer temptation is our life ; (Austin, con¬
fess. lib. 10. cap. 28.) catena perpetuorum malorum ; et quis
potest molestias et difficultates pati ? Who can endure the
miseries of it? . e In prosperity we are insolent and intolerable,
dejectedin adversity, in all fortunes foolish and miserable. fIn
adversity, I wish for prosperity ; and, in prosperity, lam afraid
of adversity. What mediocrity maybe found? where is no
temptation ? what condition of life is free? s Wisdom hath
labour annexed to it, glory envy ; riches and cares, children and
incumbrances, pleasure and diseases, rest and beggary, go toge¬
ther ; as if a man were therefore born, (as the Platonists hold)
to be punished in this life, for some precedent sins : or that, as
h Pliny complains, Nature may he rather accounted a step¬
mother, than a mother unions , all things considered : no crea¬
tures life so brittle, so full of fear , so mad, so furious; only man,
is plagued with envy, discontent, grief , covetousness, ambition,
superstition. Our whole life is an Irish sea, wherein there is
nought to be expected, but tempestuous storms, and trouble¬
some waves, and those infinite ;
a Ubique periculum, ubique dolor, ubique naufragium, in hoc ambitu, quocunqne
me vertam. Lipsins. b Horn. 10. Si in forum inverts, ibi rixar, et pugnae ; si
in curiam, ibi fraus, adulatio ; si in domum pnvatam, &c. 0 Homer. d Multis
repletur homo miseriis, corporis miseriis, animi miseriis, dum dorfiiit, dum vigil at, quo-
etmque se vertit. Lususque rerum, .temgorumque nasoimur; eln blandiente fpr-
tuna intolerandi, in calamitatibus lugubres, semper stultietmiseri. Cardan. f Pros-
pera in adversis desideyq,.et pdversaprosperistimeo :„qqisinter haecmedius locus, nbi
non sit human® vitae feh'tatid? ' ' ~S Cardan, consol. Sapiebtiae tabor anuexus, glori®
invidia, divitiis s^olV s0licitndb,-v0luptati'morbi,:q8iet:i p'aupertas, ut quasi luen-
dorum scelerumcaUS^BbsahdminempossiS'cumElatonistis agnoscere. .: . M
cap. 1, Non satis asstbsare, an ffifhor parens natura homini, an. tristkar noverca,
fuerit. N alii fragilior'vita pavor, 4Gnfhsid,Pabie&®ajdr ; uni shimantium ambitio data,
lactus, avaritia : uni superstitio.
Mem. 3. Subs. 10.] Discontents, Cares, %-c. 157
(d Tantum malorum pelagus aspicio,
Ut non sit inde enatandi copia)
no Halcyonian times, wherein a man can hold himself secure,
or agree with his present estate : but as Boethius inferrs, Hhere
is something in every one of us, which, before trydl , we seek,
and having tryed, abhor : c we earnestly wish, arid eagerly
covet, and are eftsoons weary of it. Thus betwixt hope and
fear, suspicions, angers,
4 Inter spemque metumque, timores inter et iras,
betwixt falling in, falling out, &c. we bangle away our best
days, befool bui our times, we iead a contentious, discontent,
tumultuous, melan eh oly, miserable life ; insomuch that, if we
could fore tel what was to come, and it put to our choice, we
should rather refuse, than accept of, this painful life. In a
word, the world itself is amaze, a labyrinth of errours, a desart,
a wilderness, a den of thieves, cheaters, &c. full of filthy puddles,
horrid rocks, precipjtiums, an ocean of adversity, an heavy
yoke, wherein infirmities and calamities overtake andfollow
one another, as the sea-waves ; and, if we scape Scylla, we fall
foul on Charybdis ; and so in perpetual fear, labour, anguish,
we run from one plague, one mischief, one burden, to another,
duram servientes servitutem; and you may as soon separate
weight from lead,heatfrom fire, moystuess from water, bright¬
ness from the sun,asmisery, discontent, care, calamity, danger,
from a man. Our towns and cities are but so many dwellings
of humane misery ,in which , grief and sorrow, (* as he right well
observes out of Solon) innumerable troubles, labours of mortal
men, and all manner of vices, are included, as in so many pens.
Our villages are like mole-hills, and men as so many emmets,
busie, busie still, going to and fro, in and out, and crossing
one anothers projects, as the lines of several sea-cards cut each
other in a globe Or map ; now light and merry, but (fas
one follows it) by-and-by sorrowful and heavy ; now hoping ,
then distrusting ; now patient , to morrow crying out ; now
pale, then red : running , sitting, sweating, trembling, halting ,
Sf-c. Some few amongst the rest, or perhaps one of a thou¬
sand, may be pullus Jovis, in the worlds esteem, gallinee
Euripides. . b De consol. 1. 2. Nemo. facile cum conditione sua, concordat.
Inest singulis quod imperiti petant, experti horreant. «Esse in honore juvat,
TOOX displicet. d Hor. 6 Borrhajus in 6. Job. Urbes et oppida nihil aliud
stint qjiam humanarum serumnarum domicilia, quibus luctus et moeror, et morta-
liuai varii infinitique' labores, et omnis generis vitia, quasi septis includuntur.
f Hat. Chytreus, de lit. Europse. Lsetus nunc, mox tristis ; nunc sperans, panllo post
diffidens ; patiens hodie, eras ejulans ; nunc pallens, rubens, currens, gedens, claudi-
cans, tremens, &c.
158
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
films alba, an happy and fortunate man, ad invidiam felix, be¬
cause rich, fair, well allied, in honour and office ; yet peradven-
ture ask himself, and he will say, that, of all others, ahe is most
. miserable and unhappy. A fair shooe, /tie soccus novus, elegans,
as he bsaid ; sed nescis ubi mat ; but thou knowest not where
it piucheth. It is not another mans opinion can make me
happy : but (as c Seneca well hath it) he is a miserable wretch,
that doth not account himself happy : though he be sovereign
lord of a world, he is not happy , if he think himself not to be so;
for what availeth it what thine estate is, or seem to others, if thou
thy self dislike it ? A common humour it is of all men to think
well of other mens fortunes, and dislike their own :
d Cui placet alterius, sua nimirum est odio, sors:
but e qua fit, Maecenas, $-c. how comes it to pass ? what’s the
cause of it? Many men are of such a perverse nature, they are
well pleased with nothing, (saith f Theodoret) neither with
riches nor poverty : they complain when they are well, and,
when they are sick, grumble at all fortunes, prosperity and
adversity ; they are troubled in a cheap year, in a barren:
plenty, or not plenty, nothing pleaseih them, war nor peace,
with children, nor without. This, for the most part, is the
humour of us all, to be discontent, miserable and most un«
happy, as we think at least ; and shew me him that is not
so, or that ever was otherwise. Quintus Metellushis felicity
is infinitely admired amongst the Romans, insomuch, that
(as § Paterculus mentioneth of him) you can scarce find, of
any nation, order, age, sex, one for happiness to be compared
unto him : he had, in a word, bona animi, corporis, et fortwnm,
goods of mind, body, and fortune ; so had P. Mutanius
h Crassus. Lampsaca, that Lacedaemonian lady, was such
another in iPlinies conceit, a kings wife, a kings mother, a
kings daughter ; and all the wmrld esteemed as much of Poly¬
crates of Samos. „ The Greeks brag of their Socrates, Phocion,
Aristides; the Psophidians in particular of their Aglaus,
omni vita felix, ab omni periculo immunis (which, by the
way, Pausanias held impossible ;) the Romans of their k Cato,
■ a Sua cuique calamitas prsecipua. _ b Cn. Grmcinus. ‘ « Epist. 9. 1. 7.
Miser est qui se beatissimum non judicat ; licet imperet mundo, non est beatus, qui
se non putat : quod enim refert, qualis status tuus sit, si tibi videtur malus ?
d Hor ep- 1. 1. 4. eHor. ser. 1. sat. 1. f Lib. de curat. Grasc. affec. cap. 6.
de provident. Multus nihil placet ; atque adeo et divitias damnant, et paupertatem ;
de rnorbis expostulant ; bene valentes, graviter ferunt ; atque, ut semel dicam, nihil
eos delectat, &C. 8 Vix ullius gentis, setatis, ordinis, hominem invenies, cujus
feiicitatera fortunae Metelli compares. Vol. 1. h P. Crassus Mutianus quinqae
habuisse dicitnr rerum bonarum maxima, quod esset ditissimus, quod essetnobilissimus,
eioquenfissimus, jurisconsultissimus, pontifex maximus. > Gib. 7. Regis filia,
regis uxor, regis mater. -k Qui nihil Unquam mali aut dixit, aut fecit, quod aliter
- facere non pdtuit, _ ....
159
Mem. 3. Subs. 10.] Discontents , Cares, Sfc.
Curius, Fabricius, for their composed fortunes, and retired
estates, government of passions, and contempt of the world : yet
none of all these was nappy or free from discontent — neither
Metellus, Crassus, nor Poly crates; for he died a violent death,
and so did Cato : and how much evil doth Lactantius and
Theodoret speak of Socrates ! — a weak man — and so of the
rest. There is no content in this life ; but (as ahe said) all
is vanity and vexation of spirit ; lame and imperfect. Hadst
thou Sampsons hair, Milos strength, Scanderbegs arm, So¬
lomons wisdom, Absaloms beauty, Croesus his wealth. Pa-
setis obuium, Caesars valour, Alexanders spirit, Tullys or
Demosthenes eloquence, Gyges ring, Perseus Pegasus, and
Gorgons head, Nestors years to come, all this would not
make thee absolute, give thee content and true happiness in
this life, or so continue it. Even in the midst of all our mirth,
jollity, and laughter, is sorrow and grief ; or, if there be true
happiness amongst us, ’tis but for a time :
b Desinit in pi seem mulier Formosa superae;
a fair morning turns to a lowring afternoon. Brutus and Cas¬
sius, once renowned, both eminently happy — yet you shall
scarce find two (saith Paterculus) quosfortuna maturius de~
stituerit, whom fortune sooner forsook. Hannibal, a conqueror
all his life, met with his match, and was subdued at last :
Oceurrit forti, qui mage fortis erat.
One is brought in triumph, as Caesar into Rome, Alcibiades
into Athens, coronis aareis donatus, crowned, honoured, ad¬
mired ; by-and-by his statues demolished, he hissed out, mas¬
sacred, &c. c Magnus Gonsalva, that famous Spaniard, was
of the prince and people at first honoured, approved; forth¬
with confined and banished. Admirandas actiones graves
plerumque sequuntur invidice , et acres calumnice (’tis Polybius
his observation) : grievous enmities, and bitter calumnies, com¬
monly follow renowned actions. One is born rich, dies a
beggar ; sound to day, sick to morrow; now in most flou¬
rishing estate, fortunate and happy, by-and-by deprived of his
goods by foreign enemies, robbed by thieves, spoiled, capti¬
vated, impoverished, as they of d Rabbah, pat under iron saws,
and under iron harrows, and under axes of iron, and cast into
the tile-hiln.
e Quid me felieem toties jact&stis, amici ?
Qui cecidit, stabili non erat ille gradu.
a Solomon, Eccles. I. 14. b Hor. Art. Poet c Jovius, vita ejus.
^2 Sam. 12. 31. e Boethius, lib. -1. met. 1.
160 Causes of Melancholy . [Part. L Sec. 2.
He that erst marched like Xerxes with innumerable armies, as
rich as Croesus, now shifts for himself in a poor cock-boat, is
bound in iron chains, with Bajazet the Turk, and a foot-stool
with Aurelian, for a tyrannizing conquerour to trample on. So
many casualties there are, that, as Seneca said of a city con¬
sumed with fire, una dies interest inter maximam civitatem et
nullam, one day betwixt a great city, and none; so many griev¬
ances from outward accidents, and from our selves, our own
indiscretion, inordinate appetite ; one day betwixt a man and
no man. And {which is worse) as if discontents and miseries
would not come fast enough upon us, homo hornini daemon ;
we maul, persecute, and study how to sting, gaul, and vex one
another with mutual hatred, abuses, injuries ; preying upon,
and devouring, as so many a ravenous birds ; and, as juglers,
panders, bawds, cosening one another; or raging as b wolves,
tygers, and devils, we take a delight to torment one another;
men are evil, wicked, malicious, treacherous, and0 naught, not
loving one another, or loving themselves, not hospitable,
charitable, nor sociable as they ought to be, but coun-
terfeit, dissemblers, ambodexters, all for their own ends,
hard-hearted, merciless, pittiless ; and, to benefit them¬
selves, they care not what mischief they procure to Others,
d Praxinoe and Gorgo, in the poet, when they had got
in to see those costly sights, they then cryed bene est, and
would thrust out all the rest ; when they are rich themselves,
in honour, preferred, full, and have even that they would,
they debar others of those pleasures which youth requires, and
they formerly have enjoyed. He sits at table in a soft chair at
ease ; but he doth not remember in the mean time, that a
tired water stands behind him, an hungry fellow ministers to
him full: he is athirst that gives him drink, (saith e Epictetus)
and is silent whiles he speaks his pleasure ; pensive, sad,
when he laughs. Pleno se proluit auro ; he feasts, revels, and
profusely spends, hath variety of robes, sweet musick, ease,
and all the pleasure the world can afford, whilst many an
hunger-starved poor creature pines in the street, wants clothes
to cover him, labours hard all day long, runs, rides for a trifle,
fights peradventure from sun to sun, sick and ill, weary, full
of pain and grief, is in great distress and sorrow of heart. He
a Omnes hie aut captantnr, ant captant ; aut cadavera quae lacerantur, aut corvi qui
lacerant. Petron. b Homo omne monstrum est ; ille nam superat feras ; lupos-
que et ursos pectore obscuro tegit. Heins. c Quod Paterculus de populo Ro¬
mano, durante bello Punico, per annos 115, aut bellum inter eos, aut belli prseparatio,
ant infida pax, idem ego de mundi accolis. d Theocritus, Idyll. 15/ e Qui
sedet in mensa, non meminit sibi otioso ministrare negotiosos, edenti esurientes,
bibenti sitientes, &c.
Mem. 3. Subs. 10.] Discontents, Cares, fyc. 161
lothes and scorns his inferiour, hates or emulates his equal,
envies his superior, insults over all such as are under him,
as if he were of another species, a demi-god, not subject to
any fall, or humane infirmities. Generally they love not, are
not beloved again : they tire out others bodies with continual
labour, they themselvesliving at ease, caringfor none else,sibi
nati; and are so far many times from putting to their helping
hand, that they seek all means to depress, even most worthy
and well deserving, better than themselves, those whom they
are, by the laws of nature, bound to relieve and help, as much
as in them lyes: they will let them cater- waul, starve, beg and
hang, before they will any wayes (though it be in their power)
assist or ease : ; a so unnatural are they for the most part, so
unregardful, so hard-hearted, so churlish, proud, insolent, so
dogged, of so bad a disposition. And, being so brutish, so
devilishly bent one towards another, how is it possible, but
that we should be discontent of all sides, full of cares, woes,
and miseries?
If this be not a sufficient proof of their discontent and misery,
examine every condition and calling apart. Kings, princes,
monarchs, and magistrates, seem to be most happy ; but look
into their estate, you shall b find them to be most encombred
with cares, in perpetual fear, agony, suspicion, jealousie ; that,
as c he said of a crown, if they knew but the discontents that
accompany it, they would not stoop to take it up. Quern mihi
regem, dabis, (saith Chrysostom) non curis plenum ? what
king canst thou shew me, not full of cares ? d Look not on his
crown, but consider his afflictions ; attend not his number off
servants, hut multitude off crosses. Nihil aliud potestas ctd-
minis, quam tempestas mentis, as Gregory seconds him : sove¬
reignty is a tempest of the soul : Sylla like, they have brave
titles, but terrible fits — splendorem titulo, cruciatum animo
which made e Demosthenes vow, si vel ad tribunal, vel ad
inferiium duceretur, if to be a judge, or to be condemned,
were put to his choice, he would be condemned. Rich men
are in the same predicament : what their pains are, stulti
nesciunt, ipsi sentiunt — they feel, fools perceive not, as I
shall prove elsewhere •, and their wealth is brittle, like
childrens rattles ; they come and go ; there is no certainty
in them ; those whom they elevate, they do as suddenly
» Quamlo in adolesceniia sua ipsi yixerint lautius, etliberius volnptates snas exple-
verint, iili gnatis imponimt dnriores continent!® leges. ' 6 Lugubris Ate luctuque
fero. regum tuinidas obsidet arces.— Res est mquieta fejicitas. c Plus aloes quam
meffis habet — -Non Kami jacenfem tolleres. Valer. l.Vi. c. 3. d Non diadema
aspicias, sed vitam af&ictione refertam, non catervas sateliitum, sed curarum multitu-
dinem. « As Plutarch relateth. - :
162
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. I. Sec. 2.
depress and leave in a vale of misery. The middle sort of
men are so many asses to bear burdens ; or, if they be free,
and live at ease, they spend themselves, and consume their
bodies and fortunes with luxury and riot, contention, emula¬
tion, &c. The poor I reserve for another a place, and their
discontents.
For particular professions, I hold, as of the rest, there’s no
content or security in any. On what course will you pitch ?
how resolve? To be a divine? ’tis contemptible in the worlds
esteem : to be a lawyer? ’tis to be a wrangler : to be a phy¬
sician? b pudet lotii ; ’tis loathed: a philosopher? a mad
man : an alchymist ? a begger : a poet ? esurit, an hungry
jack : a musician ? a player : a school- master ? a drudge : an
husband-man ?: an emmet : a merchant ? his gains are uncer¬
tain : a mechanician ? base : a chirurgion ? fulsome : a trades¬
man ? a c lyar : a taylor ? a thief : a serving-man f a slave :
a souldier ? a butcher : a smith, or a metal-man ? the pot’s
never from’s nose : a courtier ? a parasite. As he could find
no tree in the wood to hang himself, I can shew no state of
life to give content. The like you may say of all ages : children
live in a perpetual slavery, still under the tyrannical govern¬
ment of masters : young men, and of riper years, subject to
labour, and a thousand cares of the world, to treachery,
falshood, and cozenage :
d— — Incedit per ignes,
Suppositos cineri doloso :
e old are full of aches in their bones, cramps and convulsions,
silicerniq , dull of hearing, weak-sighted, hoary, wrinckled,
harsh, so much altered as that they cannot know their own
face in a glass, a burden to themselves and others : after
seventy years, all is sorrow (as David hath it ;) they do not
live, but linger. If they be sound, they fear diseases ; if sick,
weary of their lives : non est vivere, sed valere , vita. One
complains of want, a second of servitude, f another of a secret
or incurable disease, of some deformity of body, of some loss,
danger, death of friends, shipwrack, persecution, imprison¬
ment, disgrace, repulse, s contumely, calumny, abuse, injury,
contempt, ingratitude, unkindness, scoff's, flouts, unfortunate
marriage, single life, too many children, no children, false
a Sect.^. mem. 4. subsect 6. b Stercus et urina, medicorum fercula prima.
c Nihil lucrantur, nisi admodum mentiendo. Tull. Offic. dHor. 1. 2. od. 1.
e Rarus felix idemque senes. Seneca, in Here. CEtaso. f Omitto aegros, exsules,
mendicos, quos nemo audet felices dicere. Card. lib. 8. c.46. de rer. var. s Spre-
tasque injuria form;c. .
Mem. 3. Subs. 11.] Ambition, a Cause. 163
servants, unhappy children, barrenness, banishment, oppres¬
sion, frustrate hopes, and ill success, &c.
aTalia de genere hoc (adeo sunt multa) loquacem ut
Delassare valent Fabium -
talking Fabius will be tyred before he can tell half of them ;
they are the subject of whole volumes, and shall (some of
them) be more opportunely dilated elsewhere. In the mean
time, thus much I may say of them, that generally they crucifie
the soul of man, b attenuate our bodies, dry them, wither
them, rivel them up like old apples, and make them as so
many anatomies fossa alque pellis est totus, it a cur is ma~
cet) ; they cause tempus fcedum et squalidum, cumbersome
dayes, ingrataque temper a, slow, dull, and heavy times; make
us howl, roar, and tear our hairs (as Sorrow aid in d Cebes
table), and groan for the very anguish of our souls. Our
hearts fail us, as Davids did (Psal, 40. 12.) for innumerable
troubles that compassed him ; and we are ready to confess with
Hezekiah, (Isa. 58. 17.) behold! for felicity, I had bitter
grief: to weep with Heraclitus, to curse the day of our birth,
with Jeremy (20. 14), and our stars with Job ; to hold that
axiom of Silenus, e better never to have been born, and the best
next of all, to dye quickly ; or, if we must live, to abandon
the world, as Tirnon did, creep into caves and holes, as our
anchorites ; cast all into the sea, as Crates Thebanus; or, as
Theombrotus Ambraciotes four hundred auditors, precipitate
our selves to be rid of these miseries.
SUBSECT. XI.
Concupiscible Appetites, as Desires, Ambition, Causes.
These concupiscible and irascible appetites are as the
two twists of a rope, mutually mixt one with the other,
and both twining about the heart; both good, (as Austin
holds, 1. 14. c. 9. de civ. Dei) Hf they be moderate ; both per-
nitiousif they be exorbitant. This concupiscible appetite, how¬
soever it may seem to carry with it a shew of pleasure and de¬
light, and our concupiscences most part affect us with con¬
tent and a pleasing object, yet, if they be in extreams, they
rack and wring us on the other side. A true saying it is, desire
hath no rest, is infinite in it self, endless, and (as % one calls it) a
aHon. b Attenuant vigiles corpus miserabile cur®. c Plautus. d Hasc, qnas
crines revellit, iErumna. e Optimum non nasci, aut cito mori. fBon»,
si rectam rationem sequuntur ; malae, si exorbitant. sTho. Buovie. Prob. 18.
164 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
perpetual rack, a or- horse-mill (according to Austin), still go¬
ing round as in a ring. They are not so continual, as divers :
facilius atomos dinumerare possem, (saith b Bernard) quam
motus cordis ; nunc here, nunc ilia cogito : you may as well
reckon up the motes in the sun, as them. c It extends it self
to every thing (as Guianerius will have it) that is superfluously
sought after , or to any A fervent desire (as Fernelius interprets
it) : be it in what kind soever, it tortures, if immoderate, and
is (according to e Pl ater and others) an especial cause of me¬
lancholy. Multuosis eoncupiscentiis dilaniantur cogitationes
mece, f Austin confessed— that he was torn a-pieces with his
manifold desires ; and so doth s Bernard complain, that he
could not rest for them a minute of an hour : this I would
have, and that, and then I desire to he such and such. ’Tis
a hard matter therefore to confine them, being they are so va¬
rious and many, and unpossible to apprehend all. I will only
insist upon some few of the chief, and most noxious in their
kind, as that exorbitant appetite and desire of honour, which
we commonly call ambition ; love of money, w hich is covet- ,
ousness, and that greedy desire of gain ; self-love, pride, and
inordinate desire of vain-glory or applause ; love of study in
excess; love of women (which will require a just volume of
it self) : Of the other I will briefly speak, and in their order.
Ambition, a proud Covetousness or a dry thirst of honour, a
great torture of the mind, composed of envy, pride and covet¬
ousness, a gallant madness, one h defines it, a pleasant poyson,
Ambrose, a canker of the soul; an hidden plague ; 1 Bernard,
a secret poyson, the father of livor, and mother of hypocrisie,
the moth of holiness, and cause of madness, crucifying and dis¬
quieting all that it takes hold of. k Seneca calls it, rem solid-
tarn, timidam, vanam, ventosam, a windy thing, a vain, solici¬
tous, and fearful thing : for, commonly, they that, like Si¬
syphus, roll this restless stone of ambition, are in a perpetual
agony, still 1 perplexed, semper taciti, tristesque recedunt,
(Lucretius) doubtful, timorous, suspicious, loth to offend in
word or deed, still cogging, and colloguing, embracing, cap¬
ping, cringing, applauding, flattering, fleering, visiting, wait¬
ing at mens doors, with all affability, counterfeit honesty,
a Molam asinariam. b Tract de. Inter, c. 92. c Circa quamlibet rem
mundi haec passio fieri potest, quas superflue diligatur. d Ferventius desi-
derium. « Imprimis vero appetitus, &c. 3. de alien, ment. t Conf.
1. c. 29. S Per diversa loca vagor ; niillo temporis mom.ento quiesco ; talis
et talis esse enpio ; illud atque illud habere desidero. _ !l Ambros. 1. 3. super
Lucam. aerugo animae. i Nihil animum cruciat, nihil molestius inquietat ;
secretnm virus, pestis occulta, &c. epist. 126. kEp. 88. . 1 Nihil infeli-
ciris his ; quantus iis timer, quanta dubitatio, quantus conatus, quanta solicitudo ! nulla
illis a molestiis vacua hora.
165
Mem. 3. Subs. 11.] Ambition , a Cause.
and humility3. If that will not serve, if once this humour (as
b Cyprian describes it) possess his thirsty soul, ambitioms sal-
sugo ubi bibulam animam possidet , by hook and by crook he
will obtain it ; and from his hole he will climbe to all honours
and offices, if it be possible for him to get up ; flattering one ,
bribing another , he will leave no means unassay’d to win all.
cIt is a wonder to see how slavishly these kind of men subject
themselves when they are about a sate, .to every inferior per¬
son; what pains they will take, run, ride, cast, plot, counter¬
mine, protest and swear, vow, promise, what labours undergo,
early up, down late; how obsequious and affable they are, how
popular and courteous, how they grin and fleer upon every
man they meet ; with what feasting and inviting, how they
spend themselves and their fortunes, in seeking that, many times,
which they had much better be without (as d Cineas the ora¬
tor told Pyrrhus) ; with what waking nights, painful hours,
anxious thoughts, and bitterness of mind, inter spemque me-
tumque, distracted and tired, they consume the interim of their
time. There can be no greater plague for the present. If
they do obtain their, sute, which with such cost and solicitude
they have sought, they are not so freed : their anxiety is anew
to begin; for they are never satisfied; nihil aluidnisi imperium
spirant ; their thoughts, actions, endeavours are all for sove¬
reignty and honour ; like e Lues Sforsia (that huffing duke of
Milan, a man of singular wisdom , but profound ambition,
born to his own, and to the destruction of Italy) though it be to
their own ruine, and friends undoing, they will contend; they
may not cease; but as a dog in a wheel, a bird in a cage, or
a squirrel in a chain, (sofBudaeus compares them) g they climbe
and climbe still with much labour, but never make an end,
never at the top. A knight would be a baronet, and then a
lord, and then a viscount, and then an earl, &c. a doctor a
dean, and then a bishop; from tribune to praetor : from bai¬
liff to mayor : first this office and then that : as Pyrrhus, (in
h Plutarch) they will first have Greece, then Africk, and then
Asia, and swell with iEsops frog so long, till in the end they
a Semper attonitus, semper'pavidus quid dicat, faciatve : ne displiceat, huinilitatem
simulat, honestatem mentitur. . b Cypr. Prolog, ad ser. to. 2. Cunctos honorat,
universis inclinat, subsequitur, obsequitur ; frequentat curias, visitat optimates,
amplexatur, applaudit, adulatur: per fas et nefas e latebris, in omnem gradum ubi
aditus patet, si ingerit, discurrit. c Turbse cogit ambitio regem inservire,
ut Homerus Agamemnonem querentem inducit.’ dPlutarchus. Qnin con-
vivemur, et in otio nos oblectemus, quoniam in promptu id nobis sit, &c. e Jo-
vius, hist 1. 1. Vir singular! prudentia, sed profunda ambitione ; ad exitium Italia;
natus. f Ut bedera arbori adhseret, sic'ambitio, &c. S Lib. 3. de
contemptu rerum fortuitarum. Magno conatu et impetu moventur; super eodem
centro rotati, non pf oficiunt, nec ad finem perveniunt. h Vita Pyrrhi.
166
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
burst, or come down, with Sej anus, ad Gemonias scalas, and
break their own necks ; or as Evangelus the piper, (in Lucian)
that blew his pipe so long, that he fell down dead. If he chance
to miss, and have a canvass, he is in hell on the other side ;
so dejected, that he is ready to hang himself, turn heretick,
Turk, or traytor, in an instant. Enraged against his enemies,
he arails, swears, fights, slanders, detracts, envies, murders ;
and for his own part, si appetitum explore non potest, furore
corripitur ; if he cannot satisfie his desire, (as b Bodine writes)
he runs mad : so that, both wayes, hit or miss, he is distracted
so long as his ambition lasts; he can look for no other but
anxiety and care, discontent audgrief, in themean time — c mad¬
ness itself, or violent death, in the end. The event of this is
common to be seen in populous cities, or in princes courts ; for
a courtiers life (as Buaaaus describes it) is a d gallimaufry of
ambition, hist, fraud, imposture, dissimulation, detraction,
envy, pride ; the court, a common conventicle of flatterers,
time-servers ; politicians, <$fc. or (as e Anthony Perez will)
the suburbs of hell it self. If you will see such discontented
persons, there you shall likely find them : f and (which he ob¬
served of the markets of old Rome)
Qui perjurum convenire vult hominem, rnitto in Comitium ;
Qui mendacem et gloriosum, apud Gloacince sacrum ;
Dites, damnosos marilos, sub Basilici qumrito, &c. :
Perjur’d knaves, knights of the post, lyers, crackers, bad
husbands, &c. keep their several stations, they do still, and
al wayes did, in every commonwealth.
SUBSECT. XII.
<&i\de,yvgia.y Covetousness, a Cause.
Plutarch (in his shook whether the diseases of the
body be more grievous than those of the soul) is of opi¬
nion, if' you will examine all the causes of our miseries in
this life, you shall find them, most part , to have had their
a Ambitio in insaniam facile delabitur, si excedat. Patritius, 1. 4. tit. 20. de regis
instit. b Lib. 5. de rep. cap. 1. c Imprimis vero appetitus, sen concnpiscentia
nimia rei alicujns honest® vel inhonest®, phantasiam l®dunt ; unde multi ambitiosi,
philauti, irati, avari, &c. insani. Felix Plater, 1. 3. de mentis alien. 4 Auli-
ca vita colluvies ambitionis, cupiditatis, simulationis, impostur®, fraudis, invi-
di®, superbi® Titanic®: diversorium aula, et commune conventiculum, assentan-
di artificum, &c. Bud®us de asse. lib. 5. « In his Aphor. ' fplautus,
Curcul. act. 4. see. 1. sTom. 2. Si examines, omnes miseri® caussas vel a
furioso contendendi studio, vel ab injusta cupiditate, originem traxisse scies. — Idem
fere Chrysostomus, Com. in c, 6. ad Roman, ser. 11. . -
167
Mem. 8. Subs. 12.] Covetousne&s, a Cause.
beginning from stubborn anger, that furious desire of conten¬
tion, or some unjust or immoderate affection, as covetousness ,
SfC- From whence are wars and contentions amongst you ?
a S1. James asks : I will add usury, fraud, rapine, simony, op¬
pression, lying, swearing, bearing false witness, &e. are they
not from this fountain of covetousness, that greediness in get¬
ting, tenacity in keeping, sordidity in spending ? that they are.
so wicked, b unjust against God, their neighbour, themselves,
all comes hence. The desire of money is the root of all evil,
and they that lust after it, pierce themselves through with many
sorrows, 1 Tim. 6. 10. Hippocrates therefore, in his epistle
to Crateva an herbalist, gives him this good counsel, that, if
it were possible, c amongst other hearbs , he should cut up that
weed of covetousness by the roots, that there be no remainder
left; and then know this for a certainty, that, together with
their bodies, thou maist quickly cure ail the diseases of their
minds; for it is indeed the pattern, image, epitome, of all
melancholy, the fountain of many miseries, much discontent,
care and woe — this inordinate or immoderate desire of gain,
to get or keep money, as dBonaventure defines it ; or, as Austin
describes it, a madness of the soul ; Gregory, a torture; Chry¬
sostom, an unsalable drunkenness ; Cyprian, blindness, spe-
ciosum supplicium, a plague subverting kingdoms, families,
an e incurable disease; Budaeus, an ill habit, f yielding to no
remedies; (neither JEsculapius nor Plutus can cure them)
a continual plague, saith Solomon, and vexation of spirit,
another hell. I know there be some of opinion, that covetous
men are happy, and worldly-wise, that there is more pleasure
in getting wealth than in spending, and no delight in the
world like unto it. ’Twas Bias problem of old. With what
art thou not weary ? with getting money. § What is most
delectable ? to gain. What is it, trow you, that makes a poor
man labour all his life time, carry such great burdens, fare
so hardly, macerate himself, and endure so much misery, un¬
dergo such base offices withso great patience, to rise up early,
and lye down late, if there were not an extraordinary delight
in getting and keeping of money ? What makes a merchant,
that hath no need, satis superque domi, to range over all
4 Cap. 4. 1, b Ut sit iniquus in Deum, in proximum, in seipsum. c Si
vero, Crateva, inter caeteras berbarum radices, avaritiae radicem secare posses apia-
ram, ut nullae reliquiae essent, probe seito, &c- dCap. 6. Diaetae salutis. Avaritia
est amor immoderatus pectmiae vel acqnirendae vel retinendae. _ *Malus est
morbus, maleque afficit avaritia, siquidem censeo, &c. Avaritia difficilios cnratur
quam irrsania ; quoniamhac onmes fere medici laborant. Hip. ep. Abderit. f Fernm
profecto dirumque ulcus animi, remediis non. cedens, medendo exasperatur. *Qua
re non es lassus ; lucrum faciendo. Quid maxime delectabile ? lucrari.
168 . Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1* Sec. 2.
the world, through all those intemperate a zones of heat and
cold, voluntarily to venture his life, and be content with such
miserable famine, nasty usage, in a stinking ship, if there were
not a pleasure and hope to get money, which doth season the
rest, and mitigate his indefatigable pains ? What makes them
fo into the bowels of the earth, an hundred fathom deep, en-
angering their dearest lives, enduring damps and filthy
smells, (when they have enough already, if they could be
content, and no such cause to labour) but an extraordinary
delight they take in riches ? This may seem plausible at first
shew, a popular and strong argument: but let him that so
thinks, consider better of it ; and he shall soon perceive that
it is far otherwise than he supposeth ; it may be haply pleas¬
ing at the first, as, most part, all melancholy is ; for such men
likely have some lucida intervalla, pleasant symptomes iri-
termixt: but you must note that of b Chrysostom, >tis one
thing to he rich, another to he covetous : generally they are
all fools, dizards, mad-men, c miserable wretches, living be¬
sides themselves; sine artefruendi, in perpetual slavery, fear,
suspicion, sorrow, and discontent ; plus aloes quam mellis ha-
bent ; and are, indeed, rather possessed by their money , than
possessors; as d Cyprian hath it, mancipati pecuniis, bound
premise to their goods, as e Pliny; or as Chrysostom, servi
divitiarum, slaves and drodges to their substance ; and we
Jhay conclude of them all, as ^ Valerius doth of Ptolemseus
king of Cyprus, he was in title a king of that islands hut m
his mind, a miserable drudge of money :
— - - — g Potiore metallis
. Libertate carens — — -
wanting his liberty, which is better than gold. Damasippus
the Stoick (in Horace) proves that all mortal men dote by fits,'
some one way, some another, but that covetous men h are
madder than the rest : and he that shall truly look into their
estates, and examine their symptomes, shall find no better of
them, but that they are all 1 fools, as Nabal was, re et nomine
(1 Reg. 15): for, what greater folly can there be, or k mad¬
ness, than to macerate himself when he need not ? and
aExtremos currit mercator ad Indos. Hor. b Horn. 2. Aliud avarusj alind
dives. c Divitise, ut spinas, animnm hominis timoribus, solicitudinibus, ango-
ribns, mirifice pungunt, vexant, craciant. Greg, in Horn. dEpist. ad Donat
cap. 2. : . e Lib. 9. ep. 30. f Lib. 9. cap. 4. Insulas rex titulo, sed animo
pecunise miserabile mancipium. S Hor. 10. lib. 1. b Danda est hellebori'
mnlto pars maxima avaris. * Lnke 12. 20. Stulte, hac nocte'enpiam animam
tnam. k Opes quidem mortalibus sunt. dementia. Theogv ■'
169
Mem. 3. Subs. 12.] Covetousness , a Cause.
when (as Cyprian notes) a he may be freed from Ms burden,
and eased of his pains, will go on still , his wealth increasing ,
when he hath enough , to get more , to live besides himself, to
starve his genius , keep back from his wife band children,
neither letting1 them nor other friends use or enjoy that which
is theirs by right, and which they much need perhaps : like a
hog, or dog in the manger, he doth only keep it, because it
shall do nobody else good, hurting himself and others; and
for a little momentary pelf, damn his own soul. They are
commonly sad and tetri ck by nature, as Achabs spirit was be¬
cause he could not get Naboths vineyard (1. Reg. 22); and,
if he lay out his money at any time, though it be to necessary
uses, to his own childrens good, he brawls and scolds ; his
heart is heavy ; much disquieted he is, and loth to part from
it : miser abstinet , et timet uti (Hor.) He is of a wearish, dry,
pale constitution, and cannot sleep for cares and worldly bu¬
siness; his riches (saith Solomon) will not let him sleep, and
unnecessary business which he heapeth on himself : or, if he
do sleep, ’tis a very unquiet, interrupt, unpleasing sleep, with
his bags in his arms,
— — -congestis undique saccis
Indormit inhians ; -
and, though he be at a banquet, or at some merry feast, lie
sighs for grief of heart (as c Cyprian hath it), and cannot sleep,
though it be upon a down bed; his wearish body takes no rest,
d troubled in his abundance , and sorrowful in plenty, unhappy
for the present, and more unhappy in the life to come (Basil.)
He is a perpetual drudge, e restless in his thoughts, and never
satisfied, a slave, a wretch, a dust-worm ; semper quod idolo
suo immolet, sedulus observat : (Cypr. prolog. adsermon.) still
seeking what sacrifice he may offer to his golden god, jperjks
et nefas, he cares not how ; his trouble is endless : f crescunt
divitice ; tamen curt as nescio quid semper abest rei : his wealth
increaseth; and the more he hath, the more she wants, like
Pharaohs lean kine, which devoured, the fat, and were not sa¬
tisfied. h Austin therefore defines covetousness, quarumlibet
aEd. 2. lib. 2. Exonerare com se possit et relevare ponderibus, pergit magis fortunis
augentibus pertinaciter incubare. *> Non ainicis, noD liberis, non ipsi sibi quid-
qnam impertit ; possidet ad hoc tantum, ne possidere alteri liceat, &c. Hieron. ad
Paulin. Tam deest quod habet, quam quod non habet. c Epist. 2. lib. 2. Suspirat
in coavmo, bibat licet gemmis, et toro molliore marcidum corpus condiderit, vigilat
inpluma. d Angustatur ex abundantia, contristatur ex opulentia, infelix prse-
sentibus bonis, infelicior in fnturis. e Ulorum cogitatio nunquam cessat, qui pecu-
nias supplere diligunt. Guianer. tract. 15. c. 17. f Hor. 3. Od. 24. Quo plus
sunt potse, plus sitiuntur aqu*. g Hor. 1. 2. Sat. 6. O si angulus ille proximns
accedat, qui nunc deformat agellnm ! 11 Lib, 3. de lib. arbit. Immoritur studiis,
et amore senescit habendi.
u 2
170
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
rerum inhonestam et insatiabilem cupiditatem, an unhonest
and unsatiable desire of gain ; and, in one of his epistles, com¬
pares it to hell, a which devours all, and yet never hath enough, a
bottomless pit , an endless misery ; in quern scopulum avaritm
cadaverosi senes ut plurimum impingunt ; and, that which is
their greatest corrosive, they are in continual suspicion, fear, and
distrust. He thinks his own wife and children are so many
thieves, and go about to cozen him, his servants are all false:
Rem suam periisse, seque erstdicarier,
Et divftm atque hominum clamat continuo fidem,
De se suo tigilio fumu si qua exit foras.
If his doors creek, then out he cryes anon,
His goods are gone, and he is quite undone.
Timidus Plutus , an old proverb~as fearful as Plutus : so doth
Aristophanes, and Lucian, bring him in fearful still, pale,
anxious, suspicious, and trusting no man. b They are afraid of
tempests for their corn , they are afraid of their friends, lest
they should ash something of them , beg or borrow ; they are
afraid of their enemies , lest they hurt them ; thieves , lest they
rob them; they are afraid of war, and afraid of peace, afraid
of rich , and afraid of poor ; afraid of all. Last of all, they are
afraid of want, that they shall dye beggars ; which makes them
lay up still, and dare not use that they have : (what if a dear
year come, or dearth, or some loss ?) and were it not that they
are loth to c lay out money on a rope, they would be hanged
forthwith, and sometimes dye to save charges, and make away
themselves, if their corn ana cattle miscarry, though they have
abundance left, as dAgellius notes. eValerius makes mention
of one, that, in a famine, sold a mouse for two hundred pence,
and famished himself. Such are their cares/griefs and perpetual
fears. These symptomes are elegantly expressed by Theo¬
phrastus in his character of a covetous man: g lying in bed,
he ashed his wife whether she shut the trunks and chests fast ,
the capcase be sealed , and whether. the hall door be bolted;
and , though she say all is well, he riseth out of his bed in his
* Avarus vir inferno est similis, &c. modum non habet, hoc egentior, quo phrra
habet. bErasm. Adag. chil. 3. cent. 7. pro. 72. Nulli fidentes, omnium for-
midantopes: ideopavidum malnm vocat Euripides: metuunt tempestates ob frumen-
tum, amicos ne rogent, inimicos ne Isedant, fares ne rapiant ; bellum timent, pacem
timent, summos, medios, infimos. c Hall Char. dAgellius, lib. 3. c. 1.
Interdum eo sceleris perveniunt, ob Iacrum ut vitam propriam commutent. e Lib,7.
cap. 6. f Omnes perpetuo morbo agitantur ; suspicatur omnes timidus, sibiqueob
aurum insidiari putat, nunquam quiescens. Plin. Prooem. lib. 14. s Cap. 18.
In lecto jacens, interrogat uxorem an arcam probe clausit, an capsula, &c. E lecto
surgens nudus, et absque calceis, accensa lucerna omnia obiens et lustrans, etvis
somno indnlgens.
Mem. 3. Subs. 13.} Love of Gaming , fyc. 171
shirt, barefoot , and bare legged , to see whether it be so, with
a dark lanthorn searching every corner, scarce sleeping a wink
all night. Lucian, in that pleasant and witty dialogue called
Gallus, brings in Micyllus the cobler disputing with his cock,
sometimes Pythagoras ; where, after much speech pro and
con, to prove the happiness of a mean estate, ana discontents of
a rich man, Pythagoras his cock in the end, to illustrate by
examples that which he had said, brings him to Gniphon the
usurers house at mid-night, and after that to Eucrates ; whom
they found both awake, casting up their accounts, and telling
of their money, alean, dry, pale, and anxious, still suspecting
lest some body should make a bole through the wall, and so
get in ; or, if a rat or mouse did but stir, starting upon a sud¬
den, and running to the door, to see whether all were fast.
Plautus, in his Aulularia, makes old Euclio b commanding
Staphyla his wife to shut the doors fast, and the fire to be put
out, lest any body should make that an errant to come to his
house: when he washed his hands, c he was loth to fling
away the foul water; complaining that he was undone, be¬
cause the smoak got out of his roof. And as he went from
home, seeing a crow scrat upon the muck-hill, returned in all
haste, taking it for malum omen , an ill sign, his money was
digged up ; with many such. He that will but observe their
actions, shall find these and many such passages, not feigned
for sport, but really performed, verified indeed by such co¬
vetous and miserable wretches ; and that it is
• - - - - - — d manifesta phrenesis,
Ut locuples moriaris, egenti vivere fato—
a meer madness, to live like a wretch, and dye rich.
SUBSECT. XIII.
Love of Gaming, $c. and Pleasures immoderate ; Causes .
It is a wonder to see, how many poor distressed miserable
wretches one shall meet almost in every path and street beg¬
ging for an alms, that have been well descended, and some¬
times in flourishing estate, now ragged, tatterred,and ready to
a Curis extenuates, vigilans, et secmn snpputans. b Cave, quemqnam alienum
in cedes intromiseris. Ignem extingui volo, ne canssae quidquam sit, quod te quis-
quam quaeritet. Si bona Fortuna veniat, ne intromiseris. Occlude sis fores ambobns
pessulis. Discruejor animi, quia domo abeundum est mihi. Nimis hercule invites
abeo : hec, quid agauj, scio. c Plorat aquam profundere, &c. periit dum fumus
de tigillo exit foras. dJuv. Sat. 14.
172
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
be starved, ling-ring out a painful life, in discontent and grief
of body and mind, and all throug h immoderate lust, gaming,
pleasure, and riot. ’Tis the common end of all sensual Epi¬
cures and brutish prodigals, that are stupified and carried away
headlong with their several pleasures and lusts. Cebes, in his
table, S. Ambrose, in his second book of Abel and Cain, and,
amongst the rest, Lucian, in his tract de Mercede conductis ,
hath excellent well deciphered such mens proceedings in his
picture of Opulentia, whom he feigns to dwell on the top of a
high mount, much sought after by many suiters. At their first
coming, they are generally entertained by Pleasure and Dalli¬
ance, and have all the content that possibly may be given, so
long as their money lasts ; but, when their means fail, they
are contemptibly thrust out at a back door, headlong, and
there left to Shame, Reproach, Despair. And he, at first that
had so many attendants, parasites, and followers, young and
lusty, richly array’d, and all the dainty fare that might be had,
with all kind, of welcome and good respect, is now upon a
sudden stript of all, apale, naked, old, diseased, and forsaken,
cursing his stars, and ready to strangle himself;, having no
other company but ’Repentance, Sorrow, Grief Derision ,
Beggery , and Contempt, which are his daily attendants to his
lives end. As the b prodigal son Had exquisite musick, merry
company, dainty fare at first, but a sorrowful reckoning in
the end; so have all such vain delights and their followers.
c Tristes voluptatim exitus, ut quisquis volupiatum suarum
reminisci volet, intelliget : as bitter as gall and wormwood is
their last; grief of mind, madness it self. The ordinary
rocks upon which such men do impinge and precipitate them-
selves, are cards, dice, hawks, and hounds, (insanum venandi
stadium, one calls it- — insance substructions) their mad struc¬
tures, disports, playes, &c. when they are unseasonably
used, imprudently handled, and beyond their fortunes. —
Some men are consumed by mad phantastical buildings, by
making galleries, cloisters, terraces, walks, orchards, gardens,
pools, rillets, bowers, and such like places of pleasure,
(inutiles domos, d Xenophon calls them) which howsoever
they be delightsome things in themselves, and acceptable
to all beholders, an ornament, and befitting some great
men, yet unprofitable to others, and the sole overthrow of
their estates. Forestus, in his observations, hath an example
of such a one that became melancholy upon the like occa¬
sion, having consumed his substance in an unprofitable
aVentricosns, nadns, pallidas, leeva padorem occultans, dextra seipsum strangu-
lans. Occurrit autem exennti Poenitentia, his miserum conficiens, &e. hLuke,15.
c Boethius d In CEconom. Quid si nunc ostendam eos qui magna vi argenti.
domus inutiles ajdificant? inqait Socrates.
Mem. 3. Subs. 13-3 Love of Gaming, Sj-c. :It3
building1, which would afterward yield him no advantage.
Others, I say, are a overthrown by those mad sports of hawk¬
ing and hunting — honest recreations, and fit for some great
men, but not for every base inferiour person. Whilst they
will maintain their faulkoner, dogs, and hunting nags, their
wealth (saith b Salmutze) runs away with hounds, and their
fortunes flye away with hawks: they persecute beasts so long,
till, in the end, they themselves degenerate into beasts (as
cAgrippa taxeth them), d Actseon like; for, as he was eaten to
death by his own dogs, so do they devour themselves and their
patrimonies, in such idle and unnecessary disports, neglecting
in the mean time their more necessary business, and to follow
their vocations. Over-mad too sometimes are our great men
in delighting and doting too much on it ; e when they drive
poor husbandmen from, their tillage (as f Sarisburiensis objects,
Polycrat. 1. 1. c. 4), fling down countrey farms, and whole
towns, to make, parks and forests, starving men to feed beasts,
and g punishing in the mean time such a man that shall molest
their game, more severely than him that is otherwise a common
hacker , or a notorious thief But great men are some way es
to be excused ; the meaner sort have no evasion why they
should not be counted mad. Poggius, the Florentine, tells a
merry story to this purpose, condemning the folly and imper¬
tinent business of such kind of persons. A physician of Mi¬
lan, (saith he) that cured mad men, had a pit of water in his
house, in- which he kept his patients, some up to the knees,
some to the girdle, some to the chin, pro modo insanios, as
they were more or less affected. One of them by chance, that
was well recovered, stood in the door, and seeing a gallant
Tide by with a hawk on his fist, well mounted, with his spa¬
niels after him, would needs know to what use all this prepa¬
ration served. He made answer to kill certain fowl. The pa¬
tient demanded again, what his fowl might be worth, which
he killed in a year. Hereplyed, five or ten crowns; and when
he urged him further what his dogs, horse, and hawks, stood
4 Sarisburiensis, Polycrat.1. 1. c. 4. Venatores omnes adhuc institutionem redolent
Centaurorum. Raro invenitur quisquam eorum modestus et gravis, raro continens, et,
ut credo, sobrius unquam. b Pancirol. Tit. 23. Avolant opes cum accipitre.
c lusignis venatorum stultitia, et supervacanea cura eorum, qui, dum nimium venati-
oni insistent, ipsi, abjecta.omni bumanitate, in feras degenerant, ut Actmon, &c.
d Sabin, in Ovid. Met eAgrippa, de vanit. spient. Insannm venandi studium,
dum a novalibus arcentur, agricolpe, subtrahunt prsedia rusticis, agri colonis praeclu-
dnntur, sylvae et prata pastoribus, ut augeanturpascuaferis. — Majestatis reus agricola,
si gustarit. f A novalibus. suis arcentur agricolse, dum ferae haheant vagandi
libertatem: istis ut pascua ; augeantur, praedia subtrahuntur, &c. Sarisburiensis.
sFeris quam homimbus aequiores. Gambd. de Guil. Conq. qui 36 ecclesias matrices
depopulatus est ad Forestam Novam. Mat. Paris,
174
Causes' of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
him in, lie told him four hundred crowns. With that the pa¬
tient bad him be gone, as he loved his life and welfare ; “ for,
if our master come and find thee here, he will put thee in the
pit amongst mad men, up to the chin taxing the madness
and folly of such vain men, that spend themselves in those
idle sports, neglecting their business and necessary affairs.
Leo Deeimus, that hunting pope, is much discommended by
* Jovius in his life, for his immoderate desire of hawking and
hunting, in so much, that (as he saith) he would sometimes
•live about Ostia weeks an moneths together, leave suiters
b unrespeeted, bulls and pardons unsigned, to his own preju¬
dice, and many private mens loss : cand, if he had been by
chance crossed in his sport, or his game not so good , he was so
impatient that he would, revile and miscall many times men of
great worth with most bitter taunts, look so sowr, be so angry
and waspish, so grieved and molested, that it is incredible to
relate it. But. if he had good sport, and been well pleased
on the other side, incredibili munificentid, with unspeakable
bounty and munificence, he would reward all his fellow hun¬
ters, and deny nothing to any suiter, when he was in that
mood. To say truth, ’tis the common humour of all gamesters,
as Galatseus observes : if they win, no men living are so jo¬
vial and merry-; but, d if they lose, though it be but a trifle,
two or three games at tables, or dealings at cards for two
pence a game, they are so cholerick and testy, that no man
may speak with them, and break many times into violent
passions, oaths, imprecations, and unbeseeming speeches,
little differing from mad men for the time. Generally of all
gamesters and gaming, if it be excessive, thus much we may
conclude, that, whether they win or lose for the present, their
winnings are not munera fortunes, sed insidice, as that wise
.Seneca determines— not fortunes gifts, but baits; the com¬
mon catastrophe is e beggery : iut pestis vitam, sic admit
alea pecuniam ; as the plague takes away life, so doth gaming
goods ; for 8 omnes nudi, inopes et egeni ;
h Alea Scylla vorax, species certissima furti.
Non contenta bonis, animum quoque perfida mergit,
Foeda, furax, infarais, iners, furiosa, ruina.
lTom. 2. de vitis illustrium, 1.4. de vit. Leon. .10. b Venationibns adeo
perdite studebat et aucupiis. c Aut infeliciter venatns, tam impatiens inde, lit
sumroos ssepe vivos acerbissimis eontnmeliis ODeraret ; et ineredibile est, quali valtus
animiqae habita doiorera iractmdiamque preferret, &c. d Unicuique auieffi
•hoc a nafitra insitura est, ut doleat, sicobi erraverit aut deceptus sit. ejuven.
Sat. 8, Nec enim loculis comitantibus itur ad casnm tabulae ; posita sed luditnr arc&.—
Lemmas, instit. c. 44. Mendaciorum quidem, et peijuriorum, et paupertatis, mater est
alea : nullam habens patrimonii reverentiam, qaum illud effuaerit, sensim in furta
delahitur et rapinas. Saris. Polycrat. 1. 1. c. 5, f Damhoderus. S Dan,
Souley. bPetrar. dial. 27.
175
Mem. 3. Subs. 13.] Love of Gaming, 8fc.
For a little pleasure they take, and some small gains and get¬
tings now and then, their wives and children are wringed in the
meantime; and they themselves, with the loss of body and soul,
rue it in the end. I will say nothing of those prodigious pro¬
digals, ^perdendce pecunice genitos , (as he taxed Anthony) qui
patrimonium sine ulla fori ealumnid amittunt, (saith bCyprian)
and c mad Sybaritical spendthrifts, quiqueuna comedunt patri-
monia ccena ; that eat up all at a breakfast, at a supper, or
amongst bauds, parasites, and players ; consume themselves
in an instant, (as if they had flung it into dTyber) with great
wagers, vain and idle expences, &e. not themselves only, but
even all their friends ; as a man desperately swimming drowns
him that comes to help him, by suretiship and borrowing they
will willingly undo all their associates and allies ; e iratipecu-
niis , as he saith — angry with their money. f What with a wan¬
ton eye, a liquorish tongue , and a gamesome hand, when they
have undiscreetly impoverished themselves, mortgaged their
wits together with their lands, and entombed their ancestors
fair possessions in their bowels, they may lead the rest of their
dayes in prison, as many times they do, they repent at
leisure ; and, when all is gone, begin to be thrifty : but sera
est in fundo parsimonia ; ’tis then too late to look about ; their
send is misery, sorrow, shame, and discontent. And well they
deserve to be infamous and discontent ,h caiamidiari in amphi-
theatro , (as by Adrian the emperours edict they were of old ;
decoctores honorum suorum ; so he calls them— prodigal fools)
to be publickly shamed, and hissed out of all societies, rather
than to be pitied or relieved. 1 The Tuscans and Boeotians
brought their bankrupts into the market place in a bier, with
an empty purse carried before them, all the boyes following,
where they sat all day, circumstante plebe, to be infamous
and ridiculous. At k Padua, in Italy, they have a stone called
the stone of turpitude, near the senate house, where spend¬
thrifts, and such as disclaim nonpayment of debts, do sit with
their hinder parts bare, that, by that note of disgrace, others
may be terrified from all such vain expence, or borrowing
more than they can tell how to pay. The 1 civilians of old
set guardians over such brain-sick prodigals, as they did over
mad -men, to moderate their expences, that they should not
so loosely consume their fortunes, to the utter undoing of
their families.
a Sallust. bTom. 3. Ser. de alea =Plntus, in Aristoph. calls all such
gamesters mad men ; Si in insanum hominem contigero. Spontaneum ad se trahunt
furorem : et os, et pares, et oculos, rivos faciunt furoris et diversoria. Chrvs, horn. 71.
dPaschasi\:s Justus, 1. ]. de alea, e Seneca. fHall. S In Sat 11 .
Sed deficiente crumena, et erescente gnla, quis te manet exitus — .rebus in ventrem
mersis? “Spartian. Adriano. ■ Alex. ab. Alex. 1.6. c. 10. Idem Gerbelius,
1. 5. Gr*. disc. b Fines Moris. 'Justinian, in Digestis.
176
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1 . Sec- 2.
I may not here omit those two main plagues, and common,
dotages of humane kind, wine and women, which have in¬
fatuated and besotted myriads of people. They go commonly
together.
a Qui vino indulget, quemque alea decoquit, ille
In Venerem putris.
To whom is sorrow, saith Solomon, (Prov. 23. 39.) to whom is
wo, but to such a one as loves drink? It causeth torture, {vino
tortus et ira ) and bitterness of mind ( Sirac . 31. 21). Vinum,
furoris, Jeremy calls it {chap. 15), wine of madness, as well he
may ; for insanire facit sanos, itmakes soundmen sick andsad,
and wise men bmad, to say and do they know not what. Ac-
cidit hodie terribilis casus (saith c St. Austin) : hear a miser¬
able accident : Cyrillus son this day, in his drink, matremprceg-
nantem nequiter oppressit, sororem violare voluit, patrem occidit
fere, et duas alias sorores ad mortem vulneravit — would have
violated his sister, killed his father, &c. A true saying it was of
him, vino dart Icetitiam et dolorem ; drink causeth mirth, and
drink causeth sorrow ; drink causeth poverty and, want, (Prov.
2 1 .) shame and disgrace. Multi ignobiles evasere ob vinipotum,
&,'c. (Austin) amissis honoribus, profugi aberrarunt : many
men have made shipwrack of their fortunes, and go like rogues
and beggars, having turned all their substance into aurum
potabile , that otherwise might have lived in good worship and
happy estate ; and,' for a few hours pleasure (for their Hilary
term’s but short), or Afree madness (as Seneca calls it), pur¬
chase unto themselves eternal tediousness and trouble.
That other madness is on women. Jlpostatare facit cor,
(saith the wise man) e atque homini cerberum minuit. Pleasant
at first she is (like Dio'scorides Rhododaphne, that fair plant
to the eye, but poyson to the taste) ; the rest as bitter as
wormwood in the end, (Prov. 5. 4) and sharp as a two-edged
sword (7. 21). Her house is the way to hell, and goes down
to the chambers of death. What more sorrowful can be said %
They are miserable in this life, mad, beasts, led like f oxen to
the slaughter : and (that which is worse) whoremasters and
drunkards shall be judged; amittunt gratiam, (saith Austin)
perdunt gloriam , incurrunt damnationem ceternam. They lose
grace and glory :
— — - - - s brevis ilia voluptas
Abrogat'aeternum coeli decus.—
they, gain hell and eternal damnation,
a Persius, Sat 5. bPoculmn quasi sinus, in quo ssepe naufragium faciunt, jac-
tura turn pecunise turn mentis. Erastn. in Prov. Calicum remiges. chit 4. cent. 7. Pro.
41. cSer. 33. ad fiat, in Eremo, d Liber® unius boras insaniam seterno
temporis tasdio pensant. eMenander. f Prov. 5. s Merlin, Cocc^
Mem. 3. Subs. 14.] Philautia , or Self-love , §c.
177
SUBSECT. XI Y.
Philautia, or Self-love, Vain- glory, Praise, Honour, Immo¬
derate Applause, Pride, over-much Joy, t%c. Causes.
SELF-LOVE, pride, and vain-glory, a caecus amor sui , (which
Chrysostome calls one of the devils three great nets; bBernard,
an arrow which pierceth the soul through, and slayes it ; a
sly insensible enemy, not perceived) are main causes. Where
neither anger, lust, covetousness, fear, sorrow, &c. nor any
other perturbation, can lay hold, this will sliiy and insensibly
pervert us. Quern non gula vicit, philautia super avit (saith
Cyprian) : whom surfeiting could not overtake, self-love hath
overcome. c He hath scorned all money , bribes, gifts, up¬
right otherwise and sincere, hath inserted himself to no fond
imagination , and sustained all those tyrannical concupiscences _
of the body , hath lost all his honour, captivated by vain-glory.
(Chrysostom, sup. Jo.) Tu sola animum mentemque pernris,
gloria : a great assault, and cause of our present malady—
although we do most part neglect, take no notice of it, yet this
is a violent batterer of our souls, causeth melancholy and dotage.
This pleasing humour, this soft and whispering popular air,
amahilis insania, this delectable frensie, most irrefragable pas¬
sion, mends gratissimus error, this acceptable disease, which so
sweetly sets upon us, ravisheth our senses, lulls our souls asleep,
puffs up our hearts as so many bladders, and that without all
feeling, d in so much as those that are misaffected with it, never
so much as once perceive it, or think of any cure. We com¬
monly love him best in this e malady, that doth us most harm,
and are very willing to be hurt : adulationibus nostris libenter
favemus (saith f Jerome) : we love him, we love him for it :
g 0 Bonciari, suave, suave f nit a te tali hcec tribui ; ’twas sweet
to hear it ; and, as bPliny doth ingenuously confess to his dear,
friend Augurinus, all thy writings are most acceptable, but
those especially that speak of us : again, a little after to Maxi¬
mus, ' I cannot express hoic pleasing it is to me to hear my
a Hor, b Sagitta, quse animam penetrat, leviter penetrat, sed non.leve infligit
vulnus. sap. cant. cQui omnem pecuniarum contemtum ha bent, et nulli imagina¬
tion! totius mundi se immiscuerint, et tyrannicas corporis concupiscentias sastinuerint,
hi multoties, capti a vana gloria, omnia perdiderunt. d Hac correptinon cogi-
tant demedela. « Di, talem a terris avertite pestem. fEp. adEusto-
chiam, de castod. virgin. rLips. Ep- ad Bonciarium. b Ep. lib. 9. Omnia
tua scripta pulcherrima existimo, maxijne tamen ilia qu® de nobis. iExprimere
non possum, quam sit jucundum, &c. . .
178
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. I . Sec. 2.
self commended. Though we smile to ourselves, at least ironi¬
cally, when parasites bedawb us with false encomions, as many
princes cannot chuse but do, quum tale quid nihil intra se re-
pererint, when they know they come as far short, as a mouse
to an elephant, of any such vertues ; yet it doth us good.
Though we seem many times to be angry, a and blush at our
own praises, yet our souls inwardly rejoice; it puffs us up;
' 'tisfallax suavitas, blandus daemon , makes us swell beyond our
bounds , and f hr get our selves. Her two daughters are lightness
of mind, immoderate joy and pride, not excluding those other
concomitant vices, which b Jodocus Lorichius reckons up-
bragging, hypocrisie, pievishness, and curiosity.
Now the common cause of this mischief ariseth from our
selves or others : c we are active and passive. It proceeds in¬
wardly from our selves, as we are active causes, from an over¬
weening conceit we have of our good parts, own worth, (which
indeed is no worth) ourbounty, favour, grace, valour, strength,
wealth, patience, meekness, hospitality, beauty, temperance,
gentry, knowledge, wit, science, art, learning^ our Excellent
gifts and fortunes, for which (Narcissus like) we admire, flat¬
ter and applaud our selves, and think all the world esteems
sp of us ; and, as deformed women easily believe those that
tell them they be fair, we are too credulous of our own good
parts and praises, too well perswaded of ourselves. We brag
and vendicate our e own works, (and scorn all others in respect
of us ; injlati scientid, saith Paul) our wisdom, f our learning:
all our geese are swans : and we as basely esteem and vilifie
other mens, as we do over-highly prize and value our own.
We will not suffer them to be in secundis, no not in tertiis ;
what! mecum confertur Ulysses ? they are mures, muscce,cu-
lices, prce se, nitts and flies compared to his inexorable and
supercilious, eminent and arrogant worship ; though indeed
they be far before him. Only wise, only rich, only fortunate,
valorous, and fair, puffed up with this tympany of self-con¬
ceit, as the proud g Pharisee, they are not (as they suppose)
like either men, of a purer and more precious metal : h Soli
rei gerendee sunt efficaces (which that wise Periander held
of such): imeditantur omne qui prius negotium, fyc. Novi
quemdam (saith k Erasmus) I knew one so arrogant that he
aHieron. Et, licet nos indignos dicimus, et calidus rubor ora perfundat, attamenad
laudem suam intrinsecus animse Isetantur. b Thesaur. Theo. cNec enim
mihi cornea fibra est. Per. d E manibus illis jnascentur violas. Pers. 1. Sat.
e Omnia enim nostra supra modum placent. f Fab. 1. 10. c. 3. Ridentur, mala
qui componunt carmina : verum Gaudent scribentes, et se venerantur, et ultro. Si ta-
ceas, laudant quidquid scripsere, bead. Hor. Ep. 2. 1. 1. g Luke 18. 10. hDe
meliore Into finxit praecordia Titan. * Auson. sap. k Chil. 3. cent. 19. pro.
97. Qui se crederet neminem ulla in re prsestantiorem.
179
Mem. 3. Subs. 14.] PMlautia, or Self-love , fyc.
thought himself inferiour to no man living, like a Callisthenes
the philosopher, that neither held Alexanders acts, or any
other subject, worthy of his pen, such was his insolency ; or
Seleucus, king of Syria, who thought none fit to contend with
him hut the Romans ; b eos solos dignos Talus quibuseum de
imperio certaret. That which Tully writ to Atticus long
since, is still in force' — c there was never yet true poet or
orator, that thought any other better than himself And such,
for the most part, are your princes, potentates, great philoso¬
phers, historiographers, authors of sects or heresies, and all
our great scholars, as dHierom defines: a natural philoso¬
pher is glories creature, and a very slave of rumour , fame,
and popular opinion : and, though they write de Contempiu
glorias, yet (as he observes) they will put their names to their
books. Vobis et fames me semper dedi, saith Trebellius Pollio,
I have wholly consecrated my self to you and fame. 'Tis all
my desire, night and day , His all my study to raise my name.
Proud e Pliny seconds him ; Quamquam O ! 8fc. and that vain¬
glorious f orator is not ashamed to confess in an Epistle of his
to Marcus Lecceius, ardeo incredibili cupidtate, Sf-c. I burn
with an incredible desire to have my g name registred in thy
book . Out of this fountain proceeds all those cracks and brags,
- h speramus carmani fingi posses linenda cedro, et Icevi
servanda cupresso - 'Non usitatd nec tenui ferar pehna
• - nec in terra, morabor longius. Nil parvum aut humili
modo, nil mortale , loquor. Diear , qua. violens obstrepit Au-
fidus.— — Exegi monumentum cere perennius.—Jamque opus
exegi, quod nec Jovis ira, nec ignis, fyc. cum venit ilia dies,
Sj-c. parte tamen meliore mei super alia per ennis astr a ferar,
nomenque erit indelebile nostrum — (This of Ovid 1 have para¬
phrased in English—
And when I am dead and gone,
My corps laid under. a stone,
My fame shall yet survive.
And 1 shall be alive.
In these my works for ever.
My glory shall persever, &c.)
a Tanto fasta scripsit, ut Alexandri gesta inferiora scriptis suis existimaret, Joi
Vossius, lib. 1. cap. 9. de hist. b Plutarch, vit. Catonis. cNemo un-
quam poeta aut orator, qui quemquam se meliorem arbitraretur. 4 Consol, ad
Pammachium. Mundi philosophus, gloriae animal, et popularis aurae et rumorum venale
mancipium. . e Epist. 5. Capitoni suo. Diebus ac noctibiis, hoc solum cogito, si
qua me possum levare homo. Id voto meo sufficit, 8cc. f Tullius. gUt no¬
men meum scriptis tuis illustretur. — Inquies animus studio seternitatis noctes et dies
angebatur. Heinsius, orat. funeb. de Seal. hHor. art. Poet. * Od. ult. 1. 3.
Jamque opus exegi — Vade, liber felix ! Palingen. lib. 18.
ISO
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
and that of Ennius,
Nemo me lachrymis decoret, neque funera fletu
Faxit: cur? volito vivu’ docta per ora virum. —
with many such proud strains, and foolish flashes, too common
with writers. Not so much as Democharis on the a Topicks,
but he will be immortal. Typotius, de famd, shall be famous;
and well he deserves, because he writ of fame ; and every
trivial poet must be renowned,
- - plausuque petit clareseere vulgi.
This puffing humour it is, that hath produced so many great
tomes, built such famous monuments, strong castles, and
Mausolean tombs, to have their acts eternized,
Digito monstrari, et dicier, “ Hie est!”
to see their names inscribed, as Phryne on the walls ofThebes,
Phryne fecit. This causeth so many bloody battles,
- et noctes cogit vigilare serenas ;
long journeys,
Magnum iter intendo; sed dat mihi gloria vires — —
gaininghonour, a littl e applause, pride, self-glory, vain-glory—
that is it which makes them take such pains, and break out
into those ridiculous strains, this high conceit of themselves, to
b scorn all others, ridiculo fastu et intolerando contemtu, (as
cPalaemon the grammarian contemned Yarro, secum et natas
et morituras liter as j act am) and brings them to that height of
ipsolency, that they cannot endure to be contradicted, a or hear
of any thing hut their own commendation , which Hierom
notes of such kind of men : and (as e Austin well seconds him)
His their sole study, day and night, to he commended and ap¬
plauded; when as indeed, in all wise mens judgements, quibus
cor sapit, they are fmad, empty vessels, fringes, beside them¬
selves, derided, et ut camelus in proverhio, qucerens cornua ,
etiam quas habehat aures amisit ; their works are toyes, as an
almanack out of date, s auctoris pereunt garrulitate sui ; they
seek fame and immortality, but reap dishonour and infamy;
they are a common obloquy, insensati, and come far short of
that which they suppose or expect, (h O puer, ut sis vitalis,
a In lib. 8. b De ponte dejicere." c Sueton. lib. de gram. d Nihil
libenter audiunt, nisi laudes suas. e Epist 56. Nihil aliud dies noctesque co-
gitant, nisi nt in stadiis suis laudentur ab hominibus. , f Quae major dementia
ant dici aut excogitari potest, quam sic ob gloriam cruciari ? : Insaniam istam, .Do-
mine, longe fac a me. Austin, conf. lib, 10. cap. 37. s Mart. 1. 5, 51.
b llor. Sat. 1. 1. 2.
Mem. 3v Subs. 14.] Vain-glory, Pride , Joy , Praise . 181
metuo.)' Of so many myriads of poets, rhetoricians, philoso¬
phers, sopbisters, (as a Eusebius well observes) which have
written in former ages, scarce one of a thousands works re-_
mains; nominaet Ubrisimul cum corporibusinterierunt ; their
books and bodies are perished together. It is not, as they
vainly think, they shall surely be admired and immortal : as
one told Philip of Macedon insulting after a victory, that his
shadow was no longer than before, we may say to them,
Nos demiramur, sed non cum deside vulgo,
Sed velut Harpyias, Gorgonas, et Furias :
We marvail too, not as the vulgar we,
But as we Gorgons, Harpy, or Furies see :
or, if we do applaud, honour, and admire — quota pars, hoy
small a part, in respect of the whole world, never so much as
hears our names ! how few take notice of us ! how slender a
tract, as scant as Alcibiades his land in a map ! And yet
every man must and will be immortal, as he hopes, and extend
his fame to our Antipodes, when as half, no not a quarter of his
own province or city, neither knows nor hears of him : but, say
they did, what’s a city to a kingdom, a kingdom to Europe,
Europe to the world, the world it self, that must have an end, if
compared to the least visible star in the firmament, eighteen
times bigger than it? and then, if those stars be infinite, and
every star there be a sun, as some will, and as this sun of
ours hath his planets about him, all inhabited ; what propor¬
tion bear we to them ? and where’s our glory? Orbemterrarum
victor Romanus habebat , as he crackt in Petronius ; all the
world was under Augustus : and so, in Constantines time, Eu¬
sebius brags he governed all the world : universum mundum
procclare admodum administravit— — et omnes orbis gentes
imperatori subjecti : so of Alexander it is given out, the four
monarchies, &c. when as neither Greeks nor Romans ever had
the fifteenth part of the now known world, nor half of that
which was then described. What braggadocians are they and
we then ! quam brevis hie de nobis sermo ! as b he said : cpude-
bit aucti nominis: how short a time, how little a while, doth
this fame of burs continue ! Every private province, every
small territory and city, when we have all done, will yield as
generous spirits, as brave examples in all respects, as famous as
ourselves— Cadwallader in Wales, Rollo in Normandy — Rob-
bin-hood and Little John are as much renowned in Sherwood,
as Caesar in Rome, Alexander in Greece, or his Hephasstion.
aLib. cont. Philos, cap. 1,
bTull. som. Scip.
: Boethius.
182 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
a Omnis (etas omnisque populus in exemphm et admirathnm
venit: every town, city, book, is full of brave soldiers, sena¬
tors, scholars ; and though b Brasidas was a worthy captain,
a g-ood man, and, as they thought, not to be matched in La¬
ced anno n, yet, as his mother truly said, plures habet Sparta
Brasida meliores ; Sparta had many better men than ever he
was : and, howsoever thou admirest thyself, thy friend, many
an obscure fellow the world never took notice of, had he been
in place or action, would have done much better than he or
thyself.
Another kind of mad men there is, opposite to these, that
are insensibly mad, and know not of it— such as contemn all
praise and glory, think themselves most free, when as indeed
they are most mad: calcant, sed alio fastu: a company of
cynicks, such as are monks, hermites, anachorites, that con¬
temn the world, contemn themselves, contemn all titles, ho¬
nours, offices, and yet, in that contempt, are more proud than
any man living whatsoever. They are proud in humility ;
proud in that they are not proud; sospe homo de nance glories
contemtu vanius gloriatur, as Austin hath it (confess, lib. 10.
cap. 3 8); like Diogenes , intus gloriantur, they brag in-
wai’dly, and feed themselves fat with a self-conceit of sanc¬
tity, which is no better than hypocrisie. They go in sheeps
russet, many great men that might maintain themselves in
cloth of gold, and seem to be dejected, humble, by their
outward carriage, when as inwardly they are swoln full of
pride, arrogancy, and selfconceit. And therefore Seneca
adviseth his friend Lucilius, cin his attire and gesture, out -
ward actions, especially to avoid all such things as are more
notable in themselves ; as a rugged attire, hirsute head, horrid
beard, contempt of money, coarse lodging, and whatsoever
leads to fame that opposite way.
All this madness yet proceeds from ourselves : the main
engine which batters us, is from others ; we aremeerly passive
in this business. A company of parasites and flatterers,
that, with immoderate praise, and bumbast epithetes, glozing
titles, false elogiums, so bedawb and applaud, gildover many
a silly and undeserving man, that they clap him quite out of
his wits. Res imprimis violenta est laudum placenta , as Hie-
rom notes : this common applause is a most violent thing,
(a drum, a fife, and trumpet, cannot so animate) that fattens
men, erects and dejects them in an instant.
aPutean. Cisalp. hist. lib. 1. h Plutarch. Lycurgo. cEpist.,5. Iliad te admo*
neo, ne eorum more, qui non proficere, sed conspici cupiunt, facias aliqua, quae in ha-
bitu tuo, aat genere vitas, notabilia sint. ' Asperum cultum, et intonsum capat, negli-
gentiorem barbam, indictum argento odium, cubile humi positum, et quidquid aliud
landem perversa via sequitur, evita.
Mem.; 3.' Subs,. J.4.] Vain-glory, Pride, Joy, Praise , Sfc. 183
a Palma negata macium, donata reducit opisnum.
It makes them fat and lean, as frost doth conies. b Andie ho is
that mortal man that can so contain himself, that, if he he im¬
moderately commended and applauded, will not he moved?
Let him be what he will, those parasites will overturn him :
if he be a king, he is one of the nine worthies, more than a
man, a God forthwith c (edictum Domini Deique nostri ) ; and
they will sacrifice unto him: -
- d divinos, si tu patiaris, honores
Ultro ipsi dabimus, meritasque sacrabimus aras%
If he be a souldier, then Themistocles,Epaminondas, Hector,
Achilles, duo fulmina belli, triumviri terrarum, Sfc. and the
. valour of both Scipios is too little for him ; he is invictissimus,
serenissimus, multis tropceis qrnatissimus, natures dominus , •
although he be lepus galeatus, indeed a very coward, a milk
sop, e and (as he said of Xerxes) postremus in pugna, primus
in fugd, and such a One as never durst look his enemy in the
face. If he be a big man, then is he a Sampson, another Her¬
cules; if he pronounce a speech, another Tully or Demos¬
thenes (as of Herod in the Acts, thevoyce of God, and not of
man); if he can make a verse, Homer, Virgil, &c. And then
my silly weak patient takes all these elogiums to himself ; if
he be a scholar so commended for his much reading, excellent
style, method, &c. he will eviscerate himself like a spider,
study to death :
Laudatas ostentat avis Junnnia pennas P
peacock-like, he will display all his feathers. If he be a
souldier, and so applauded, his valour extolPd, though it be
impar congressus, as that of Troilus and Achilles— infelix
puer— he will combat with a giant, run first upon a breach :
as another f Philippus, he will ride into the thickest of his
enemies. Commend his house keeping, and he will beggar
himself; commend his temperance, he will starve himself.
— — - — — — -laudataque virtu s
Crescit ; et immensum gloria calcar habet.
he is mad, mad, mad ! no whoe. with him ;
Impatiens consortia erlt;
aHor. _ b Quis vero tam bene modulo suo metiri se novit, nt enm assidnse et
immodicse landationes non moveant? Hen. Steph. c Mart. d Stroza.
e Justin. f Livius. Gloria tantum elatus, non ka, in medios hostes irmere,
quod, completis muris, conspici se pugnantem, a muro spectantibus, egregium
ducebat.
VOL. I. x
184
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
he will over the a Alpes, to be talked of, or to maintain his cre¬
dit* Commend an ambitious man, some proud prince or po-
tentate : si plus cequo laudetur, (saith b Erasmus) cristas erigit ,
exuit hominem , Deum se putat ; he sets up his crest, and will
be no longer a man, but a God.
- c nihil est, quod credere de se
Non audet, quum iaudatur, Dis eequa potestas.
How did this work with Alexander, that would needs be Jupi-
ters son, and go, like Hercules, in a lions skin? Domitian, a
God, (d Dominus Deus noster sic fieri jubetflike the e Persian
kings, whose image was adored by all that came into the city
of Babylon. Commodus the emperour was so gulled by his
flattering parasites, that he must be called Hercules. f.Ati-
tonius the Roman would be crowned with ivy, carried in a
chariot, and adored for Bacchus. Cotys, king of Thrace, was
married to g Minerva, and sent three several messengers, one
after another, to see if she were come to his bed-chamber.
Such a one was h Jupiter Menecrates, Maximinus Jovianus,
Dioclesianus Herculeus, Sapor the Persian king, brother of
the sun and moon, and our modern Turks, that will be Gods
on earth, kings of kings, Gods shadow, commanders of all that
may be commanded, our kings of China and Tartaria in
this present age. Such a one w;as Xerxes, that would whip
the sea, fetter Neptune, stull dj actantid, and send a challenge
to Mount Afhos ; and such are many sottish princes, brought
into afools paradise by theirparasites. ’Tis a common humour,
incident to all men, when they are in great places, or come to
the solstice of honour, have done, or deserv’d well, to ap¬
plaud and flatter themselves. Staltitiam saam produnt, §c.
(saith ' Platerus) your very tradesmen, if they be excellent,
will crack and brag, and shew their folly in excess, k They
have good parts ; and they know it • you need not tell them of
it; out of a conceit of their worth, they go smiling to them¬
selves, and perpetual meditation of their trophies and plaudites:
they run at the last quite mad, and lose their wits. Petrarch,
(lib. ]. de contemptu mundi) confessed as much of himself ;
aI, demens, e£ saevas curre per Alpes; Aude aliqnid, &c. Ut pueris placeas, et
declamatio fias. Juv. Sat. 10. b InMor. Encom. c Juvenal. Sat 4.
d Sueton. c. 12. in Domitiano. eBrisonius. f Antonins, ab assentatoribus
evectus, Liberom se Patrem appellari jnssit, et pro deo se venditavit. Redimitus
hedera, et corona velatns anrea, et thyrsum tenens, cothumisqne succinctas, corra,
velnt Liber Pater, vectus est Alexandriae. Pater, vol. post. % Minervae nuptias
ambiit,. tanto furore percifus, ut satellites mitteret ad videndum num dea in thalamum
venisset, &c. _ hjElian. lib. 12. iDe mentis alienat, cap. 3. kSe-
qaiturque superbia formam. Livius, lib. 11. Oraeulum est, vivida saepe ingenialux-
uriare hac; et evanescere ; multosque sensum penitus amisisse. Homines intuentur,
ac si ipsi non essent homines.
185
Mein. 3. Sabs. 15. J Study , a Cause .
and Cardan (in his fifth book of Wisdom) gives an instance in
a smith of Milan, a fellow citizen of his, a one Galeus de Ru-
beis, that, being commended for refinding of an instrument of
Archimedes, for joy ran mad. Plutarch (in the life of Artax-
erxes) hath such alike story of one Chamus, a souldier, that
wounded king Cyrus in battel, and grew thereupon so b arro¬
gant , that, in a short space after , he lost his wits. So, many
men, if any new honour, office, preferment, booty, treasure,
possession, or patrimony, ex insperato fall upon them, for
immoderate joy, and continual meditation of it, cannot sleep,
c or tell what they say or do ; they are so ravished on a sud¬
den, and With vain conceits transported, there is no rule with
them. Epaminondas therefore, the next day after his Leuc-
trian victory, d came abroad all squalid and submiss, and gave
no other reason to his friends of so doing, than that he per¬
ceived himself the day before, by reason of his good fortune,
to be too insolent, overmuch joyed. That wise and vertuous
lady e queen Katharin, dowager of England, in private talk,
upon like occasion, sai &, that * she would not willingly endure
the extremity of either fortune ; but, if it were so that of ne¬
cessity she must undergo the one , she would be in adversity ,
because comfort was never wanting in it ; but still counsel and
government were defective in the other : they could not mode¬
rate themselves.
SUBSECT. XV.
Love of Learning, or overmuch Study, With a Digression
of the Misery of Scholars, and why the Muses are melan¬
choly.
XiEONAHTUS Fuchsius ( Jnstit , lib. 3. sect. 1. cap. 1), Felix
Plater (lib. 3. de mentis alienat.) Here, de Saxbnia (Tract, post,
demelanch. cap. 3), speak of a § peculiar fury, which comesby
overmuch study. Fernelius (lib. 1 .cap. 18) h puts study, con¬
templation, and continual meditation, as an especial cause of
a Galeus de Rubeis, civis noster, faber ferrarius, ob inventionem instrument!, coch¬
leae olim Archimedis dicti, prse laetitia insanivit. b Insania postmodum correptus,
ob nimiatn inde arrogantiam. c Bene ferre magnam disce fortunam. Hor. — For-
tunam reverenter habe, quicunque repente Dives ab exili progrediere loco. Aosonius.
d Processit squalidus et submissus, ut hestemi diei gaudium intemperans hodie casti-
garet e Uxor Hen. VIII. f Neutrius se fortunse extremum libenter exper-
turam dixit ; sed, si necessitas alterius subinde imponeretur, optare se difficilem et
adversam ; quod in hac nulli unquam defuit solatium, in altera multis congilinm, &c.
Lod. Vives. s Pecnliaris furor qui ex Uteris fit. b Nihil magis auget, ac
assidua studia, et profunda; cogitationes.
x 2
186
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. g;
madness ; and, in bis 86 consul, cites the same words. Jo.
Arculanus {in lib. Rhasis ad Almansorem, cap. 16) amongst
other causes, reckons up studium vehemens : so doth Levinus
Lemnius {lib. de occul. not. mirac . lib. i. cap. 16). ^ Many
men (saith he) come to this malady by continual b study , and
night-waking ; and , of all other men, scholars are most subject
to it ; and such (Rhasis adds) cthat have commonly the finest
wits ( Cont . lib. 1 . tract i 9). Marsilius Ficinus(e?e sanit. tuendd,
lib. 1, cap. 7) puts melancholy amongst one of those five prin¬
cipal plagues of students : ’tis a common maul unto them all,
and almost in some measure an inseparable companion.
Varro (belike for that cause) calls tristes philosophos et severos .
Severe, sad, dry, tetrick, are common epithetes to scholars :
and d Patritius, therefore, in the Institution of Princes,
would not have them to be great students : for (as Machiavel
holds) study weakens their bodies, dulls their spirits, abates
their strength and courage ; and good scholars are never
good souldiers ; which a certain Goth well perceived; for,
when his country-men came into Greece* and would have ;
burned all their books, he cryed out against it, by all means
they should not do it: e leave them that plague, which in
time will consume all their vigour , and martial spirits .
The f Turks abdicated Cornutus, the next heir, from the em¬
pire, because he was so much given to his book ; and ’tis the
common tenent of the world, that learning dulls and dimi-
nisheth the spirits, and so, per consequens, produceth me¬
lancholy.
Two main reasons may be given of it, why students should
be more subject to this malady than others. The one is, they
live a sedentary, solitary life, sibi et Musis, free from bodily
exercise, and those ordinary disports which other men use;
and many times, if discontent and idleness concur with it
(which is too frequent), they are precipitated into this gulf on a
sudden : but the common cause is overmuch study ; too much
learning (as § Festus told Paul) hath made thee mad : ’tis that
other extreme which effects it. So did Trincavellius {lib. 1.
consil, 12. et 13.) find by his experience, in two of his pa¬
tients, a young baron, and another, that contracted this malady
by too vehement study ; so Forestus {observat. 1.10. observ.
a Non desunt, qui exjugi studio, et intempestiva lucubratione, hue devenerimt:
hi, pr® cseteris, enim plerumque melancholia solent infestari. b Study is a
continual and earnest meditation, applved to some thing with great desire. Tullyv
c Et illi qui sunt subtilis ingenii et mult* praemeditationis, de faeili incidunt in me-
lancholiam. d Ob studiorum solicitudinem, lib. 5. tit. 5. e Gas-
par Ens.Thesaur. Polit. Apoteles. 31. Graecis hanc pestem relinquite, quae dnbium
non est quin brevi omnem iis vigorem ereptura Martiosque spiritus exhaustura sit,
ut ad arma tractanda plane inhabiles futuri sint. fKnolIes, Turk. Hist.
sAct. 26. *24. '
Mem. 3. Subs .15.] Study, a Cause. 1ST
13) in a young divine in Lovaiu, that was mad, and said a he
had a bible in his head. Marsilius Ficinus (de sanit. tuend.
lib. 2. cap. i. 3, 4, et lib. 2. cap. 10) gives many reasons
b why students dote more often than others : the first is their
negligence : c other men look to their tools ; a painter will wash
his pensils ; a smith will look to his hammer , anvil, forge ; an
husbandman will mend his plough-irons , and grind his hatchet
if it be dull ; afaulkner or huntsman will have an especial care,
of his hawks, hounds, horses, dogs , §c. a musician will string
and unstring his lute , Sj-c. only scholars neglect that instrument
(their brain and spirits, I mean) which they daily use, and by
which they range over all the world , which by much study is
consumed. Vide (saith Lucian) nefuniculum nimis intendendo,
aliquando abrumpas : see thou twist.not the rope so hard, till
at length it dbreak. Ficinus in his fourth chapter gives some
other reasons : Saturn and Mercury, the patrons of learning,
are both dry planets; and Griganus assigns the same cause,
why Mercurialists are so poor, and most part beggers; for that
their president Mercury had no better fortune himself. The
Destinies, of old, put poverty upon him as a punishment j
since when, poetry and beggery are gemelli, twin-born brats,
inseparable companions ;
e Jfnd, to this day, is' every scholar poor :
Gross gold from them runs headlong to the boor :
Mercury can help them to knowledge, but not to money.
The second is contemplation, f which dryes the brain, and ex¬
tinguished natural heat ; for whilst the spirits are intent to
meditation above in the head, the stomach and liver are left
destitute; and thence come black blood and crudities, by de¬
fect of concoction ; and for want of exercise, the superfluous
vapours cannot exhale, \c. The same reasons are repeated
by Gomesius (lib. 4. cap. 1. de sale), sNymannus (or at. de
Imag.) Jo. Yoschius (lib. 2. cap. 5. de peste); and something
aNimiis studiis melancholicus evasit, dicens, se Biblium in capite habere. b Car
melancholia assidua, crebrisque deliramentis, vexentur eornm animi, nt desipere
cogantur. '' Solers quilibet artifex instrumenta sua diligentissime curat, peni-
cillos pictor ; malleos incudesqne faber ferrarius ; miles equos arma ; Venator, auceps,
aves et canes ; citharam citharoedus, &c. soli Mnsarum mystse tam negligentes sunt,
at instrumentum illud, quo mundum universum metiri solent, spiritum scilicet, penitus
negligere videantur. d Arcus, (et arma tuse tibi sunt imitanda Diana;) Si
Hunquam cesses tendere, mollis erit. Ovid. eEphemer. f Contem-
plaiio cerebrum exsiccat et extinguit calorem naturalem ; unde cerebrum frigidum et
siccum evadit, quod est melancholicum. Accedit ad hoc, quod natura, in con-
templatione, cerebro prorsus, cordique intenta, stomachum heparque destituit ; unde,
ex mimentis male coctis, sanguis crassus et niger efhcitur, dum nimio otio membrorum
sggerflui vapores non exhalant,. s Cerebrum exsiccatur, corpora sensim gra-
cilescunt
188
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. *2.
more they add, that hard students are commonly troubled
with gowts, catarrh es, rheums, cachexia bradypepsia, bad eyes,
stone and collick, a crudities, oppilations, vertigo, winds, con¬
sumptions, and all such diseases as come by overmuch sit¬
ting : they are most part lean, dry, ill-coloured, spend their
fortunes, lose their wits, and many times their lives ; and all
through immoderate pains, and extraordinary studies. If
you will not believe the truth of this, look upon great Tos-
tatus and Tiiomas Aquinas works; and tell me whether
those men took pains ? peruse Austin, Hierom, &c. and many
thousands besides.
Qui cupit optatam cursu contingere roetam,
Multa tulit, fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit.
He that desires this wished goal to gain,
Must sweat and freeze before he can attain,
and labour hard for it So did Seneca, by his own confession
(ep. 8.): b not a day that I spend idle ; pari of the night I keep
mine eyes open, tired with waking, and now slumbering, to
their continual task. Hear Tully ( pro Archid Poeta): whilst
others loytered, and took their pleasures, he was continually
at his hook. So they do that will he scholars, and that to the
hazard, (Isay) of their healths, fortunes, wits, and lives. How
much did Aristotle and Ptolemy spend (unius regni pretium,
they say — more than a kings ransom), how many crowns per
annum, to perfect arts, the one about his history of creatures,
the other on his Almagest % How much time did Thebet Ben-
chorat employ, to find out the motion of the eighth spbear?
forty years and more, some write. How many poor scholars
have lost their wits, or become dizards, neglecting ail worldly
affairs, and their own health, wealth, esse and bene esse, to gain
knowledge! for which, afterall their pains, in the worlds esteem
they are accounted ridiculous and silly fools, ideots, asses, and
(as oftthey are) rejected, condemned, derided, doting, and mad.
Look for examples in Hildesheim ( spicil.2 . de mania etdelirio:)
read Trincavellius (/. 3. consil. 36. et. c. 17), Montanus
(comil. 233), c Garceus (de Judic. genii, cap. 33), Mercurialis
(consil. 86. cap. £5), Prosper d Calenus (in his book de atrd
bile) ; go to Bedlam, and ask. Or if they keep their wits, yet
a Studiosi sunt cachectici, et nunquam bene colorati : propter debilitate® digestives
facultatis, multiplicantur in iis superfluitates. Jo. Voschius, part. 2. cap. 5. de peste.
b Nullus mihi per otinm dies exit: partem noctis studiis dedico, non vero somno, sc-d
ociilos, vigilia ratigatos cadentesque, in opera detineo. _ 0 Johannes Hanusehius
Bohemos, nat. 1516, eruditus vir, nimiis studiis in phrenesLn incidit. Montanus in-
stanceth in a Frenchman of Tolosa. 4 Cardinalis Caserns, ob laborem, vigiliam,
et diuturna studia, factus melancholicus.
189
Mem. 3. Subs. 15.] Study, a Cause.
they are esteemed scrubs and fools, aby reason of their car¬
riage ; after seven years study,
- - - - - b statua tacitumius exit
Pier umqu.e, et risum populi quatit :
because they cannot ride an horse, ■which every clown dan do ;
salute and court a gentlewoman, carve at table, cringe, and
make congies, which every common swasher can do, hos pvpu-
lus ridet: they are laughed to scorn, and accounted silly
fools, by our gallants. Yea, many times, such is their misery,
they deserve it : a meer scholar, a meer ass.
c Obstipo capite, et figentes lumine terram,
Murmura cum.secum et rabiosa silentia rodunt,
Atque exporrecto trutinantur verba labello,
vEgroti veteris meditantes somnia, gigni
De nihilo nihilum; in nihilum nil posse reverti.
d — - — who do lean awry
Their heads, piercing the earth with a fixt eye ; -
When, by themselves, they gnaw their murmuring,
And furious silence, as ’twere ballancing
Each word upon their out-stretcht lip, and when
They meditate the dreams of old sick men.
As, out of nothing nothing can be brought.
And that which is, can ne'er he turned to nought.
Thus they go commonly meditating unto themselves, thus they
sit, such is their action and gesture. Pulgosus (L 8. e. 7)
makes mention how Th. Aquinas, supping with king Lewis
of France, upon a sudden knocked his fistupon the table, and
cryed, conclusum est contra Manicheeos ; his wits were a wool¬
gathering (as they say), and his head busied about other mat¬
ters : when he perceived his error, he was much e abashed.
Such a story there is of Archimedes in Vitruvius, that, having
found out the means to know how much gold was mingled
with the silver in king Hierons crown, ran naked forth of the
bath and cryed, 1 have found ; f and was commonly so
intent to his studies , that he never perceived what was done
about him : when the city was taken , and the souldiers now
ready to rifle his house, he took no notice of it. e S*. Bernard
rode all day long by theLemnian lake, andaskedat last where
he was (Marullus, lib. 2. cap. 4.) It was Democritus carriage
aPers. Sat. 3. They, cannot fiddle ; but, as Themistocles said, he could make a
small town become a great city. b Ingenium, sibi quod vanas desumpsit Athenas,
, Et septem studiis annos dedit, insenuitque tibris et curis, statua taciturnius exit Ple-
rumque, et risu populum quatit. Hor. ep. 2. lib. 2. cPers. Sat. d Translated
by M. B. Holiday. e Thomas, rubore confusus, dixit se de argumento cogitasse.
f Plutarch, vita Mareelli. Nec sensit urbem captam, nec milites in domum irruentes,
adeo intentus studiis, &c. sLib. 2. cap. 18.
1$D Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. See. 2.
alone that madgthe Abderites suppose him to have been mad,
and send for Hippocrates to cure him : if he had been in any
solemn company, he would upon all occasions fall a laughing.
Theophrastus saith as much of Heraclitus, for that he conti¬
nually wept, and Laertius of Menedemus Lampsacenus, be¬
cause he ran like a mad man, a saying , he came from hell os
a spie, to tell the devils what mortal men did. Your greatest
students are commonly no better — -silly, soft fellows in their
outward behaviour, absurd, ridiculous to others, and no whit
experienced in worldly business : they can measure the hea¬
vens, range over the v/orld, teach others wisdom ; and yet, in
bargains and contracts, they are circumvented by every base
tradesman. Are not these men fools ? and how should they
be otherwise, hut as so many sots in schools , when (as bhe
well observed) they neither hear nor see such things as are
commonly practised abroad? how should they get experience?
by what means ? c / knew in my time many scholars , saith
iEneas Sylvius, (in an epistle of his to Gasper Scitick, chan¬
cellor to the emperour) excellent 'well learned, hut so rude, so
silly, that they had no common civility, nor knew how to
manage their domesiick or pub lick affairs. Paglarensis was
amazed , and said his farmer had surely cozened him, when he
heard him tell that his sow had eleven pigs, and his ass had
hut one foal. To say the best of this profession, I can give
no other testimony of them in general, than that of d Pliny
of Isasus— he is yet a scholar; than which kind of" men
there -is nothing ' so simple, so sincere, none better ; they are,
most part, harmless, honest, upright, innocent, plain dealing
men.
Now, because they are commonly subjeet to such hazards
and inconveniences, as dotage, madness, simplicity, &c. Jo.
Voschius would have good scholars tobe highly rewarded/and
had in some extraordinary respect above other men, e to have
greater privileges than the rest, that adventure themselves and
abbreviate their lives for thepublick good. But our patrons
of learning are so far, now a dayes, from respecting the Mu¬
ses, and giving that honour to scholars, or reward, which
they deserve, and are allowed by those indulgent privileges of
a Sub Fnriae larva cirenmivit urbem, dictitans se exploratorem ab inferis venissg,
delaturdm dasmorsibus mortalium peccata. bpetronins, Ego arbitror in scho-
lis s’tultissimos fieri, quia nihil eornm, quse in nsu habemus, ant audiunt ant vident
cNovi, m'eis diebus, plerosqne' stndiis iiterarum deditos, qui disciplines admodnm
abnndabant : sed hi nihil civilifatis habebant, nec rem-pnbl. nec domesticam regere
norant. Stnpnit Paglarensis, et fnrti villicnm accnsavit, qui suem fetam nndecim
pcrcellos, asinam unnm dnntaxat pnllnm, e nix am retnlerat. d Lib. 1. Epist. 3.
Adbnc scholasticus tantum est; quo genere hominum, nihil ant est simplicins, aut sin-
cerins, aut melins. -e Jure privilegiandi, qui ob commune bonum abbreviant
sibi vitam. . ' ‘
191
Mem. 3. Subs. 15.] Study, a Came.
many noble princes, that, after all their pains taken in the uni¬
versities, cost and charge, expenses, irksom hours, laborious
tasks, wearisome dayes, dangers, hazards (barred interim from
all pleasures which other men have, mewed up like hawks all
their lives) if they chance to wade through them, they shall in
the end be rejected, contemned, and (which is their greatest
misery) driven to their shifts, exposed to want, poverty, and
beggery. Their familiar attendants are,
aPailentes Morbi, Liictns, Curasque, Laborque,
Et Metus, et malesuada Fames, et turpis Egestas,
Terribiles visu forms -
Grief, Labour, Care, pale Sickness, Miseries,
Fear, filthy Poverty, Hunger that cryes ;
Terrible monsters to be seen with eyes.
If there were nothing else to trouble them, the conceit of this
alone were enough to make them all melancholy. Most other
trades and professions, after some sevenyears prenticeship, are
enabled by their craft to live of themselves. A merchant
adventures his goods at sea ; and, though his hazard be great,
yet, if one ship return of four, he likely makes a saving voyage.
An husbandmans gains are almost certain; quibus ipse Jupiter
nocere non potest (’tis b Catos hyperbole, a great husband him¬
self) : only scholars, methinks, are most uncertain, unrespected,
subject to all casualties, and hazards : for, first, not one of a
many proves to be a scholar ; all are not capable and docile ;
ex omni ligno non jit Mercurius: c we can make majors and
officers every year, but not scholars : kings can invest knights
and barons, as Sigismond the emperour confessed : universities
can give degrees ; and
Tu quod es, e populo quilibet esse potest :
but he, nor they, nor all the world, can give learning, make
philosophers, artists, oratours, poets. We can soon say,
(as Seneca well notes) O virum bonum ! o divitem ! point at a
rich man, a good, an happy man, a proper man, sumtuose
vestitum, calamistratum, bene olentem : magno temporis im-
pendio constat hose laudatio, o virum liter alum l but ’tis not
so easily performed to find out a learned man. Learning
is not so quickly got : though they may be willing to take
pains, and to that end sufficiently informed and liberally main¬
tained by their patrons and parents, yet few can compass it : or,
if they be docile, yet ail mens wills are not answerable to
their wits; they can apprehend, but will not take pains ; they
s Virg. iEu. lib. 6. 6 Plutarch, vita ejus. Certum agvicolationis lucrum, &c.
e Quotannis fiunt consoles et proconsules : rex et'poeta quotannis non nascitur.
192
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
are either seduced by bad companions, velinpuellamimpingunt,
vel in pocitlum, and so spend their time to their friends grief
and their own undoings. Or, put case they be studious, in¬
dustrious, of ripe wits, and perhaps g*ood capacities, then how
many diseases of body and mind must they encounter ? No
labour in the world like unto study. It may be, their tempera¬
ture will not endure it : but, striving to be excellent, to know
all, they lose health, wealth, wit, life, and all. Let him yet
happily escape all these hazards ,cereisintestinis, with a body of
brass, and is now consummate and ripe; he hath profited in his
studies, and proceeded with all applause : after many expen ces,
he is fit for preferment: where shall we have it? he is as far to
seek it, as he was (after twenty years standing) at the first day of
his coming to the university. For, what course shall he take,
being now capable and ready ? The most parable and easie, and
about which many are imployed, is to teach a school, turn
lecturer or curat ; and, for that, he shall have faulkners wages,
ten pound per annum, and his diet, or some small stipend, so
long as he can please his patron or the parish; if they approve
him not (for usually they do but a year or two — as inconstant,
as a they that cryed, “ Hosanna” one day, and “ Crucifie him”
the other), serving-man like, he must go look a new master:
if they do, what is his reward ?
b Hoc quoque te manet, ut pueros elementa docentem
Occupet extremis in vicis balba senectus.
Like an ass, he wears out his time for provender, and can
shew a stum rod, togam tritam et laceram, saith Hired us, an
old torn gown, an ensign of his infelicity; he hath his labour
for his pain, a modicum to keep him till he be decrepit ; and
that is all. Grammaticus non est felix, fyc. If he be a
trencher chaplain in a gentlemans- house, (as it befel d Eu-
phormio) after some seven years service, he may perchance
have a living to the halves, or some small rectory with the
mother of the maids at length, a poor kinswoman, or a crakt
chamber-maid, to have and to hold duringthe time of his life.
But, if he offend his good patron, or displease his lady mistres
in the mean time,
e Ducetur plants, velut ictus ab Hercule Cacus,
Poneturque foras, si quid tentaverit unquam
Hiscere - —
as Hercules did by Cacus, he shall be dragged forth of doors
by the heels, away with him. If he bend his forces to some
a Mat 2L 4 Hor. ep. 20. 1. 1 c Lib. 1. de contem. amor. d Satyricon.
e Juv. Sat 5.
193
Mem. 3. Subs. 15.] Study , a Cause.
other studies, with an intent to be a seeretis to some noble
man, or in such a place with an embassadour, he shall find
that these persons rise, like prentises, one und er anotb er : and so,
in many tradesmens shops, when the master is dead, the fore¬
man of the shop commonly steps in his place. Now for poets,
rhetoricians, historians, philosophers, Mathematicians, sophist-
ers, &c. they are like gras hoppers : sing they must in summer,
and pine in the winter ; for there is no preferment for them.
Even so they were at first, if you will believe that pleasant
tale of Socrates which be told fair Phaedrus under a plane-tree,
at the banks of the river Ismenus. About noon, when it was
hot, and the grashoppers made a noise, he took that sweet
occasion to tell him a tale, how grasshoppers were once scho¬
lars, musicians, poets, &c. before the Muses were born, and
lived without meatanddrink, and for that cause were turnedby
Jupiter into grashoppers: and may be turned again, in Tithoni
cicadas', aut Lydorum ranas, for any reward I see they are like
to have: or else in the mean time, I would they could live," as
they did, withoutany viaticum, like so many bmanuccdiatce, those
Indian birds of Paradise, as we commonly call them — those,!
mean, that live with the air and dew of heaven, and need no
other food : for, being as they are, their c rhetorick only serves
them to curse their had fortunes ; and many of them, for want
of means, are driven to hard shifts; from grashoppers, they turn
humble-bees and wasps, plain parasites, and make the Muses
mules, to satisfie their hunger-starved panches, and get a meals
meat : To say truth, ’tis the common fortune of most scholars,
to be servile and poor, to complain pittifuily, and lay open their
wants to their respectless patrons, as d Cardan doth, as e Xy¬
lan der and many others ; and (which is too common in those
dedicatory epistles) for hope of gain, to lye, flatter, and with
hyperbolical elogiums and commendations, to magnifie and
extol an illiterate unworthy idiot, for his excellent vertues,
whom they should rather (as f Machiavel observes) vilifie, and
rail at downright for his most notorious' villanies and vices.
So they prostitute themselves, as fidlers or mercenary trades¬
men, to serve great mens turns for a small reward. They are
like ? Indians ; they have store of gold, but know not the worth
of it : for I am of Synesius opinion, hKing Hieron got more hy
Simonides acquaintance, than Simonides did by his : they have
a Ars colit astra. Aldrovandus, de Avibus, 1. 12, Gesner, &c. c Literas
habent, queis sibi et fortunre sure maledicant. Sat. Menip. d Lib. de libris pro-
priis, foL 24. ePrasfat. translat. Plutarch. fPolit disput Laudibus ex-
toliunt cos, ac si virtutibus pollerent. quas, ob innnita scelera,-potius vituperare opor-
teret. S Or, as borses know not their strength, they consider not their own
worth. l!-PIura ex Simonidis familiaritate Hieron conseqiratus est, quam ex
Hieronis Simonides.
194
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
their best education,good institution, sole qualification from us:
and, when they have done well, their honour and immortality
from us; we are the living tombs,registers,and as so many trum-
petours of their fames : what was Achilles, without Homer ?
Alexander, without Arrian and Curtius? who had known the
Csesars, but for Suetonius and Dion ?
a Vixerunt fortes ante Agamemnona
Multi: sed omnes illacrymabiles
Urgentur, ignotique, longa
Nocte, carent quia vate sacro. -
They are more beholden to scholars, than scholars to them; but
they under- value themselves, and so, by those great men, are
kept down. Let them have that Encyclopaedia, all the learn¬
ing in the world ; they must keep it to themselves, * live in base
esteem , and starve, except they will submit (as Badasus well
hath it) so many good parts, so many ensigns of arts, vertues ,
and be slavishly obnoxious to some illiterate potentate, and live
under his insolent worship, or honour, like parasites, qui tarn -
quam mures, alienumpanem comedunt. For, to say truth, artes
hee non sunt lucrativce, (as Guido Bonat, that great astrologer
could foresee) they be not gainful arts these, sed esurientes et
famelicw, but poor and hungry.
c Dat Galenus opes ; dat Justinianus honores ;
Sed genus et species cogitur ire pedes :
The rich physician, honour’d lawyers ride,
Whil’st the poor scholar foots it by their side.
Poverty is the Muses patrimony ; and, as that poetical divinity
teachetb us, when Jupiters daughters were each of them mar¬
ried to the Gods, the Muses alone were left solitary, Helicon
forsaken of all suters ; and I believe it was, because they had
no portion.
Calliope longum ccelebs cur vixit in aevum ?
Nempe nihil dotis, quod numeraret, erat.
Why did Calliope live so long a maid?
Because she had.no dowry to be paid.
Ever since all their followers are poor forsaken, and left unto
themselves ; in so much that, as dPetronius argues, you shall
aHor. lib. 4. od. 9. b Inter inertes et plebeios fere jacet, nltimum locum ha¬
beas, nisi tot artis virtutisque insignia, turpiter, obnoxie, supparasitando fascibus snbje-
cerit protervae insolentisqne potentias. Lib. 1. de contemt rerum fortuitarum.
c Buchanan, eleg. lib. dIn Satyrico. Intrat senex, sed cultu non ita speciosus, ut
facile appareret eum hacnota literatum esse; quos divites odisse solent £go,-inquit,
poeta sum, Quare ergo tam male yestitos es ? Propter hoc ipsum ; amor ingenii
neminem unquam divitem fecit.
Mem. 3. Subs. 15.] Why the Muses are Melancholy. 195
likely know them by their eloafhs. There came, saith he,
hy chance into my company , a fellow , not very spruce to
look on, that I could perceive, hy that note alone, he was a
scholar, whom commonly rich men hate. I asked him what
he was : he answered, a poet. I demanded again why he was
so ragged : he told me, this kind of learning never made any
man rich.
3 Qui pelago credit, magno se foenore tollit ;
Qui pugnas et castra petit, preecingitur auro ;
Vilis adulator picto jacet ebrius ostro ;
Sola pruinosis horret facqndia pannis.
A merchants gain is great, that goes to Sea :
A souldier embossed all in gold :
A flatterer lyes fox’d in brave array,
A scholar only ragged to behold.
AH which our ordinary students right Well perceiving in the
universities- — how unprofitable these poetical, mathematical,
and philosophical studies are, how little respected, how few
patrons — apply themselves in all haste to those three commo¬
dious professions of law, physick, and divinity, sharing them¬
selves between them, b rejecting these arts in the mean time,
history, philosophy, philology, or lightly passing them over,,
as pleasant toyes, fitting only table talk, and to furnish them
with discourse. They are not so behoveful : he that can tell
his money hath arithmetick enough : he is a true geometri¬
cian, can measure out a good fortune to himself ; a perfect
astrologer, that can cast the rise and fall of others, and mark
their errant motions to his own use. The best opticks are, tos
reflect the beams of some great mens favour and grace to shine
upon him. He is a good engineer, that alone can make, an in¬
strument to get preferment. This was the common tenent
and practice of Poland, as Croinerus observed, not long since,
in the first book of his history : their universities were gene¬
rally base ; not a philosopher, a mathematician, an antiquary,
&c. to be found of any note amongst them, because they had
no set reward or stipend; but every man betook himself to
divinity, hoc solum in vetis hahens, opimum sacerdotium; a
good personage was their aim. This was the practice of some
of our neer neighbours, as c Lipsius inveighs they thrust
their children to the study of law and divinity, before they he
informed aright, or capable of such studies. Scilicet omnibus
a Petronius Arbiter. b Oppressus paupertate animus nihil eximiom ant sub¬
lime cogitare potest Amcenitates. literaruin, ant elegantiam, quoniam nihil prsesidii
in his ad vitas commodum videt, primo negligere, mox odisse, incipit. Heins.
c Epistgl. quaest. lib. 4. ep. 21. .
196
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
artihus antistat spes lucri ; et formosior est cumulus auri,
quam, quidquid Groeci Latinique delirantes scripserunt. Ex
hoc numero delude veniunt ad gubemaculd reipub. inter sunt
et prcesunt consiliis regum ; o pater ! o patria ! so be com¬
plained ; and so many others: for even so we find, to serve a
great man, to get an office in some bishops court (to practise
in some good town), or compass a benefice, is the mark we
shoot at, as being so advantagious, the high way to preferment.
Although, many times, for ought I can see, these men fail as
often as the rest in their projects, and are as usually frustrate of
their hopes: for, let him be a doctor of the law, an excellent
civilian of good worth, where shall he practise and expatiate ?
Their fields are so scant, the civil law with us so contracted
with prohibitions, so few causes, by reason of those all-devour¬
ing municipal laws (cjuibus nihil illiteratius, saith ‘"Erasmus—
an illiterate and a barbarous study; for, though they be never so
well learned in it, I can hardly vouchsafe them the name of
scholars, except they be otherwise qualified) and so few courts
are left to that profession, such slender offices, and those com¬
monly to be compassed at such dear rates, that I know not how
an ingenious man should thrive amongst them. Now, for phy¬
sicians, there are in every village so many mountebanks, empe-
ricks, quack-sal vers, Paracelsians (as they call themselves) , caw-
sifici et sanicida? ( so b Clenard terms them), wisards, alcumists,
poor vicars, cast apothecaries, physicians men, barbers, and
good wives, professing great skill, that I make great doubt how
they shall be maintained, or who shall be their patients. Be¬
sides, there are so many of both sorts, and some of them such
harpyes, so covetous, so clamorous, so impudent, and (as “he
said) litigious idiots,
Quibus loquacis affatim arrogantiee est,
Peritias parum aut nihil,
Nec ulla mica literarii salis;
Cnimenimulga natio,
Loquutuleia turba, litium strophse.
Maligna litigantium
Cohors, togati vultures,
Lavernse alumni, agyrtee, &c.
Which have no skill, but prating arrogance,
No learning, such a purse-milking nation,
Gown’d vultures, thieves, and a litigious rout
Of couseners, that haunt this occupation,
that they cannot well tell how to live one by another, but, . as
he jested (in the comedy) of clocks, they were so many f major
pars populi arida reptant fame, they are almost starved a
a Ciceron. dial. b Epist. lib. 2. c Ja. Dousa, Epodon lib. 2. car. 2. . d Plautus.
Mem. 3. Subs. 15,] Why the Muses are Melancholy. 197
great part of them, and ready to devour their fellows, a et
noxia calliditate secorripere; such a multitude of pettifoggers
and empericks, such impostors, that an honest man knows
not in what sort to compose and behave himself in their society,
to carry himself with credit in so vile a rout; scienticc nomen, tot
sumtibus partum et vigiliis , projiteri dispudeat, postquam, &;c.
Last of all, to come to our divines, the most noble profession
and worthy of double honour, but of all others the most dis¬
tressed and miserable. If you will not believe me, hear a brief
of it, as it was, not many years since, publicly preached at Pauls
cross, bby a grave minister then, and now a reverend bishop of
this land. We, that are bred up in learning, and destinated by
our parents to this end , we suffer our childhood in the grammer
school, which Austin calls rnagnam tyrannidem, et grave ma¬
lum, and compares it to the torments of martyrdom ; when we
come to the university, if we live of the college allowance, as
Phalaris objected to the Leontines , itamm suhtes,
<po€s, needy of all things but hunger and fear ; or, if we be
maintained but partly by our parents cost, to expend in [un] ne¬
cessary maintenance, books, and degrees, before we come to any
perfection, five hundreth pounds, or a thousand marks. If, by
this price of the expence of time, our bodies and spirits, our sub¬
stance and patrimonies, we cannot purchase those small re¬
wards, which are ours by law, and the right of inheritance, a
poor personage, or a vicarage of 501. per annum, but we must
pay to the patron for the lease of a life ( a spent and out-worn
life ) , either in annual pension, or above the rate of a coppyhold,
and that with the hazard and loss of our souls, by simony and
perjury, and the forfeiture of all our spiritual preferments, in
esse and posse, both present and to come ; what father after a
while will be so improvident, to bring up his son, to his great
charge , to this necessary beggery ? What Christian will be so
irreligious, to bring up his son in that course of life, which, by
all probability and necessity, cogit ad turpia, enforcing to sin,
will entangle him in simony and perjury, when as the poet saith ,
Invitatus ad hsec aliquis de ponte negabit -
a beggars brat, taken from the bridge where he sits a begging ,
if he knew the inconvenience, had cause to refuse it. This be¬
ing thus, have not we wished fair all this while, that are initiate
divines, to find no better fruits of our labours ?
c Hoc est, cur palles? cur quis non prandeat, hoc est ?
Do we macerate our selves for this ? is it for this we rise so
early all the year long, d leaping (as he saith) out of our beds,
when we hear the bell ring, as if we had heard a thunder clap?
aBarc. Argenis. lib. 3. b Joh. Rowson, 4 Novembris, 1597. The sermon
was printed by Arnold Hartfield. cPers. Sat. 3. d E lecto exsilientes,
ad subitum tintinnabuli plausum, quasi fulmine territi. 1.
19$
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1, Sec, 2.
If this be all the respect, reward, and honour, we shall have,
? Frange leves calamos, et scinde, Thalia, libdlos :
let us give over our books, and betake our selves to some
other course of life. To what end should we study }
b Quid me literulas stulti docuere parentes |
what did our parents mean to make us scholars, to be as far to
seek of preferment after twenty years study, as we were at first?
why do we take such pains ?
Quid tantum iusanis juvat impallescere chartis ?
If there be no more hope of reward, no better encouragement,
I say again,
Frange leves calamos, et scinde, Thalia, libellos r
, let’s turn souldiers, sell our books, and buy swords, guns, and
pikes, or stop bottles with them, turn our philosophers gowns
(as Cieanthes once did) unto millers coats, leave all, and ra¬
ther betake our selves to any other course of life, than to con¬
tinue longer in this misery. c Prcesiat dentiscalpia radere,
guam literatus monumentis magnatum favor em emendicare.
Yea, but me thinks I hear some man except at these words,
that (though this be true which I have said of the estate of
Scholars, and especially of divines, that it is miserable and
distressed at this time, that the church suffers shipwrack of
her goods, and that they have just cause to complain) there is
a fault; but whence proceeds it? if the cause were justly ex¬
amined, it would be retorted Upon ourselves; if we were cited
at that tribunal of truth, we should be found guilty, and not
able to excuse it. That there is a fault among us, I confess ;
and, were there not a buyer, there would not be a seller: but
to him that will consider better of it, it, will more than mani¬
festly appear, that the fountain of these miseries proceeds from
these griping patrons. In accusing them, I do not altogether
excuse us : both are faulty, they and we : yet, in my judgement,
theirs is the greater fault, more apparent causes, and much to
be condemned. For my part, if it be not with me as I would,
or as it should, I do ascribe the cause (as d Cardan did in the
like case) meo infortunio potius guam illorum sceleri , to
® mine own infelicity, rather than their naughtiness, (although
I have been baffled in my time by some of them, and have as
just cause to complain as another) or rather indeed to mine
a Mart. “Mart. cSat Menip. d Lib. 3. de cons. el had no
money : I wanted impudence : I could not scramble, temporize, dissemble : non pran-
deret olns, &c. — Vis, dicam ? ad palpandum et adalandum penitns insulsus, recndi
non possum, jam senior, ut sim talis ; et fingi nolo, utcunque male cedat in rem meam,
et obscurus inde delitescam.
1S9
Mem. 3. Subs. 15.] Study, a Cause.
own negligence; fori was ever like that Alexander (in® Plu¬
tarch) Crassus his tutor in philosophy, who, though he lived
many years familiarly with rich Crassus, was even as poor when
from, (which many wondered at) as when he came first to him.
He never asked; the other never gave him any thing; when he
travelled with Crassus, he borrowed an hat of him, at his return
restored it again. I have had some such noble friends, ac¬
quaintance and scholars; but, most part, (common courtesies
and ordinary respects excepted) they and I parted as we met:
they gave me as much as I requested, and that was - And as
Alexander ab Alexandrio ( Genial . dier. 7.6. c. 16) made answer
to Hieronymus Massainus, that wondred,q?/?/m pluris ignavos
et ignobiles ad dignitates et sacerdotia promotos quotidie
videret, when other men rose, still he was in the same state,
eodem tenor eet fortuna, cuimercedemlaborum studiorumque de-
beri putaret, whom he thought to deserve as well as the rest —
he made answer, that he was content with his present estate,
was not ambitious: and, although objurgabundus suam segni-
tiern accusaret, cum obscures sortis homines ad sacerdotia et
pontijicatus evectos, Sfc. he chid him for his backwardness, yet
he was still the same : and for my part (though I be not worthy
perhaps to carry Alexanders books) yet, by some overweening
and well wishing friends, the like speeches have been used
to me; but I replyed still, yvith Alexander, that I had enough,
and more perad venture than I deserved; and, with Libanius
Sophista, that rather chose (when honours and offices by the
emperour were offered unto him) to be tails sophista, quam
talis magistratus, I had as live be still Democritus junior,
and privus privatus, si mihi jam daretur optio, quam talis
Jortasse doctor, talis dominus. — —Sed quorsum hcec ? For the
rest, ’tis, on both sides, f acinus detestandum to buy and sell
livings, to detain from the church that which Gods and mens
laws have bestowed on it ; but in them most, and that from
the covetousness and ignorance of such as are interested in this
business. I name covetousness in the first place, as the root of
all these mischiefs, which (Achan like) compels them to
commit sacrilege, and to make simoniacal compacts, (and what
not?) to their own ends, b and that kindles Gods wrath, brings a
plague,vengeance, and an heavy visitation upon themselves and
others. Some, out oftbat insatiable desire of filthy lucre, to be
enriched, care not how they come by it, per fas et nefas, hook
or crook, so they have it. And others, when they have, with
riot and prodigality, imbezelled their estates, to recover them-
aYit. Crassi. Nec facile jadicari potest, utrnm paoperior cum primo adCrassnm,&e.
b Damn habent iratnm ; sibiqne mortem aternam acqoirunt, aliis miserabilem roinam.
Serrarius, in Josuam, 7. Euripides.
VOL. I. Y
200 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
selves, make a prey of the church, (robbing it, as aJulian the
Apostate did) spoile parsons of their revenues (in keeping half
back, b as a great man amongst us observes)<md that maintenance
on which they should live; by means whereof, barbarism is in¬
creased, and a great decay of Christian professours : for who
will apply himself to these divine studies, his son, or friend,
when, after great pains taken, they shall have nothing where¬
upon to live? But with what event do they these things ?
cOpesque totis viribus venamim :
At inde messis accidit miserrima.
They toyle and moyle, but what reap they ? They are com¬
monly unfortunate families that use it, accursed in their progeny,
and, as common experience evinceth, accursed themselves in
all their proceedings. With what face (as he d quotes out of
Austin) can they expect a blessing or inheritance from Christ
in heaven , that defraud Christ of his inheritance here on earth ?
I would all our simoniacal patrons, and such as detain tithes,
would read those judicious tracts of Sr Henry Spelman, and Sr
James Sempill, knights; those late elaborate and learned trea¬
tises of Dr Tilslye and Mr Montague, which they have written
of that subject. But though they should read, it would be
to small purpose ; dames , licet, et mare Casio confundas ;
thunder, lighten, preach hell and damnation, tell them ’tis a
sin : they w ill not believe it ; denounce and terrifie ; they
have e cauterised consciences ; they do not attend ; as the in-
chanted adder, they stop their ears. Call them base, irreligious,
prophane, barbarous, pagans, atheists, epicures, (as some oftfaem
surely are) with the bawd in Plautus, Euge ! optime ! they
Cry; and applaud themselves with that miser, isimulacnummos
Contemplor in area : say what you will, quocunque modo rem:
as a dog barks at the moon, to no purpose are your sayings :
take your ‘heaven, let them have money — a base, prophane,
epicurean, hypocritical rout. For my part, let them pretend
what they will, counterfeit religion, blear the worlds eyes,
bumbast themselves, andstuffe out their greatness with church
spoils, shine like so many peacocks— so cold is my charity, so
defective in this behalf, that I shall never think better of them,
than that they are rotten at core, their bones are full. of epi¬
curean hypocrisie, and atheistical marrow ; they are worse than
heathens. For, as Dionysius Halicarnasseus observes (Antiq.
Rom. lib . 7). sRrimum locum, fyc. Greeks and barbarians
aNicephorus, lib. 10. cap. 5. b Lord Cook, in .his Reports, second part,
fol. 44. c Euripides. d Sir Henry Spelman, de. non temerandis Eeclesiis.
e 1 Tim. 4. 2. fHor. s Primuni locum apud omnes gentes habet patritius
•deorom cultus, et ^eniorum ; nam hose diutissime custodiunt, tarn G-rsci quan»
barbari; &c.
201
Mein. 3. Subs. 15.] Study, a Cause.
observe all religious rites , and dare not break them, for fear
of offending their gods: but our simoniacal contracters, our
senseless Achans, our stupified patrons, fear neither God nor
Devil : they have evasions for it; it is no sin, or not due jure
divino, or, if a sin, no greatsin, &c. And, though they be daily
Jmnished for it, and they do manifestly perceive, that, (as he said)
rost and fraud come to foul ends; yet (as aChrysostome follows
it) nulla ex poena fit correctio; et, quasi adversis malitia ho-
minum provocetur, crescit quotidie quod puniatur : they are
rather worse than better : ‘
— iram atque animos a crimine sumunt;
and the more they are corrected, the more they offend: but let
them take their course, (j Rode, caper, vitem ) go on still as
they begin, (“ "tis no sin!”) let them rejoyce secure : Gods
vengeance will overtake them in the end ; and these ill gotten
goods, as an eagles feathers, cwill consume the rest of their
substance: \tisd aurum Tholosanum, and will produce no better
effects. Let them, lay'it up safe, and make their conveyances
never so close, lock and shut door, saith e Chrysostome : yet fraud
and covetousness, two most violent thieves, are stillincluded; and
a little gain, evil gotten, will subvert . the rest of their goods.
The eagle in iEsop, seeing a piece of flesh, now ready to be sa^
crificed, swept it away with her claws, and carried it to her
nest : but there was a burning coal stuck to it by chance, which
unawares consumed her young ones, nest and all together. Let
our simoniacal church-chopping patrons, and sacrilegious har¬
pies, look for no better success. ,
A second cause is ignorance, and from thence contempt ;
successit odium in liter as ab ignorantia vulgi ; which f Junius
well perceived : this hatred and contempt of learniug proceeds
out of g ignorance; as they are themselves barbarous, idiots,
dull, illiterate, and proud, so they esteem of others.
Sint Maecenates, non deerunt, Flacee, Marones :
let there be bountiful patrons, and there will be painful scholars
in all sciences. But, when they contemn learning, and tMnk
themselves sufficiently qualified, if they can write and read,
scamble at a piece of evidence, or have so much Latin as that
emperour had, h qui nescit dissimulare, nescit vivere, they are
unfit to do their countrey service, to perform or undertake
a Tom. 1. de steril. triam annormn sub Elia sermone b Ovid. Fast a De
male qusesitis vis gaudet tertias haeres. d Strabo, 1. 4. Geog. a Nihil facilios
opes evertet, quam avaritia et frande parta Etsi enim seram addas tali arc*, et esteriore
janua et vecte earn communias, intus tamen frandem et avaritiam, &c. Iu 5 Corinth.
f Acad, cap! 7. g Ars neminem habet inimicum, pr*ter ignorantem. ’a 0>
that cannot dissemble cannot live.
Y 2
202
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
any action or employment, which may tend to the good of
a common-wealth, except it be to fight, or to do coun trey
justice, with * common sense, which every yeoman can like¬
wise do. And so they bring up their children, rude as they are
themselves, unqualified, untaught, uncivil most part. a Quis
e nostra juventute legitime instituitur literis? quis orator es
aut philosophos tangit ? quis historiam legit , illam rerum
agendarum quasi animam ? Prcecipitantparentes vota sua , Sf-c.
5twas Lipsius complaint to his illiterate countrey-men : it may¬
be ours. Now shall these men judge of a scholars worth, that
have no worth, that knownotwhatbelongs to a students labours,
that cannot distinguish between a true scholar and a drone? or
him that by reason of a voluble tongue, a strong voice* a
pleasing tone, and some trivantly Polyanthean helps, steals
and gleans a few notes from other mens harvests, and so makes
a fairer shew, than he that is truly learned indeed ; that thinks
it no more to preach, than to speak, hor to, run away with
an empty cart (as a grave man said) ; and thereupon vilifie
us, ,and our pains ; scorn us, and allilearning. c Because
they are rich, and have other means to live, they think
it concerns them not to know, or to trouble, themselves with
it ; a fitter task for younger brothers, or poor mens sons,
to be pen and inkhorn men, pedantical slaves, and no whit be¬
seeming the calling of a gentleman; as Frenchmen and Ger¬
mans commonly do, ueglectingtherefore all humane learning;/
what have they to do with it? Let marriners learn astronomy ;
merchants factors study arithmetick ; surveyors get thein geo¬
metry ; spectacle-makers opticks ; landleapers geography ;
town-clarks rhetorick ; what should he do with, a spade, that
hath no ground to dig? or they with learning, that have no
use of it ? Thus they reason, and are not ashamed to let
marriners, prentises, and the basest servants, be better quali¬
fied than themselves. In former times, kings, princes, and
emperours were the only scholars, excellent in all faculties.
Julius Caesar mended the year, and writ his own Commen¬
taries :
- - — — d media inter proelia, semper
Stellarum ecelique plagis, superisque vacavit.
e Antoninus, Adrian, Nero, Severus, Julian* &e. fMichael the
emperour,andIsacius, were so much given to theirstudies, that
a Epist. quaest. lib. 4. epist. 21. Lipsius. *> Dr. King, in his last lecture on
Jonah, sometime right reverend lord bishop of London. c Quibus opes et otium,:
hi hfcrbaro fastu literas contemnunt d Lucan, lib. 8. e Spartian. Soliciti de
rebus minis; ' — ; f Nicet. 1. Anal. Fumis lucnbrationum sordebant
203
Mem. 3. Subs. 15,] Study, a Cause.
no base fellow would take so much pains : Orion, Perseus, Al-
phonsus,Ptolemgeus, famous astronomers; Sabor,Mitbridates,
Lysimachus, admired physicians — Platos kings, all; Evax,that
Arabian prince, a most expert jueller, and an exquisite philo¬
sopher ; the kings of iEgypt were priests of old, and chosen
from thence : Rex idem, hominum, Phoebique, sacerdos : but
those heroical times are past ; the Muses are now banished,
in this bastard age, ad sordida tuguriola, to meaner persons,
and confined alone almost to universities. In those dayes,
scholars were highly beloved, a honoured, esteemed, as old
Ennius by Scipio Africanus, Virgil by Augustus, Horace by
Maecenas ; princes companions ; dear to them, as Anacreon
to Polycrates, Pbiloxenus to Dionysius, and highly rewarded.
Alexander sent Xenocrates the philosopher fifty talents, be¬
cause he was poor , visit rerum aut eruditione proestantes viri
mensis olim regum adhibiti, as Philostratus relates of Adrian,
and Lampridius of Alexander Severus. Famous darks came
to these princes courts, velut in Lycceum, as to an university,
and were admitted to their tables, quasi divum epulis accum-
bentes; Archelaus, that Macedonian king, would not willingly
sup without Euripides, (amongst the rest he drank to. him at
supper one night, and gave him a cup of gold for his pains)
deleciatus po'etce suavi sermone : and it was fit it should be so,
because (as b Plato in his Protagoras well saith) a good philo¬
sopher as much excells other men, as a great king doth the
commons of his countrey ; and again, c quoniam illis nihil
deest, et minime egere solent, et disciplinas, quas profitentur,
soli a contemtu vindicare possunt ; they needed not to beg so
basely, as they compel! d scholars in our times to complain
of poverty, or crouch to a rich chuff for a meals meat, but
could vindicate themselves, and those arts which they pro¬
fessed. Now they would and cannot; for it is held by some
of them, as an axiom, that to keep them poor, w ill make them
study ; they must be dieted, as horses to a race, not pamper¬
ed ; e alendos volunt, non saginandos, ne melioris mentis flam-
mula extinguatur : a fat bird will not sing, a fat dog cannot
hunt ; and so, by this depression of theirs, f some want means,
others will, all want s incouragement, as being forsaken al¬
most, and generally contemned. ’Tis an old saying,
Sint Msecenates, non deerunt, Flacce, Marones ;
* Grammaticis olim et dialecticis jnrisque professoribus, qui specimen eruditionis
dedissent, eadem dignitatis insignia decreverunt imperatores/quibns ornabant beroas.
Erasm. ep. Jo. Eabio epis. Vien. b Probus viret philosophns magisprsestat inter
alios Homines, quam rex inclytus inter plebeios. cHeinsius, prsefat. Poematum.
d Servile nomen scholaris jam. e Seneca. f Hand facile emergunt, &c.
£ Media quod noctis ab hora Sedisti, qua nemo faber, qua nemo sedebat, Qui docet
obliquo lanam didocere ferro ; Kara tamen merces. Juv. Sat. 7.
204
•Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
and ’tis a true saying still. Yet oftentimes, I may not deny it,
the main fault is in ourselves. Our academicks too frequently
offend in neglecting patrons (as a Erasmus well taxeth), or
making ill choice of them ; negligimus ohlalos , aut amplecti-
mur parum aptos : or, if we get a good one, non studemus
muiuis cjffzciis favor em ejus alere, we do not plye and follow
him as we should. Idem mihiaccidit ado lescenti (saith Eras¬
mus, acknowledging his fault) ; et gravissime peccavi: and so
may bI say myself, I have offended in this, and so peradventure
have many others: we did not respondere magnatum favoribus,
qui cosperunt fy>$ amp lee ti, apply our selves with that readi¬
ness we should : idleness, love of liberty, ( immodicus amor
libertalis e fecit, ut diu cum perfidis amicis, as he confesseth, et
pertinaci paupertate, colluctarer) bashfulness, melancholy,
timorousness, cause many of us to be too backward and remiss.
So some offend in one extream, but too many on the other :
we are, most part, too forward, too solicitous, too ambitious,
too impudent : we commonly complain deesse Mcecenates *
want of encouragement, want of means, when as the true de¬
fect is our want of w orth, our insufficiency. Did Mmcenas
take notice of Horace or Yirgil, till they had shewed them¬
selves first? or had Bavins and Msevius any patrons? Egre -
gium specimen dent, saith Erasmus: let them approve them¬
selves worthy first, sufficiently qualified for learning and man¬
ners, before they presume or impudently intrude and put
themselves on great men, as too many do, with such base
flattery, parasitical colloguing, such hyperbolical. elogies they
do usually insinuate, that it is a shame to hear and see. Im-
modicae laudes ccnciliant invidiam , polius quam laudem ; and
vain commendations derogate from truth; and we think, in
conclusion, non melius de laudato, pejus de laudanle, ill of
both, the co'mmender and commended. So we offend ; but
the main fault is in their harshness, defect of patrons.
How beloved of old, and how much respected, was Plato of
Dionysius ! How dear to Alexander was Aristotle, Demaratus
to Philip, Solon to Croesus, Anaxarchus and Trebatius to Au¬
gustus, Cassius to Vespasian, Plutarch to Trajan, Seneca to
Nero, Simonides to Hieron ! how honoured !
cSed hsec prius fuere ; nunc recondita
Senent quiete : -
those, dayes are gone
Et spes et ratio studiorum in Csesare tantum ;
a Chil. 4 cent. 1 adag. 1. b Had I done as others did, put my self forward,
I might ha-ve haply been as great a man as many of my equals. c Catullus,
205
Mem. 3. Subs. 15.] Study , a Cause.
as he said of old, we may truly say now : he is our amulet,
our asun, our sole comfort and refuge, our Ptolemy, our com¬
mon Maecenas, Jacobus munificus. Jacobus pacijicus, mysta
Musarum,rex Platonicus : grande decus , columenque nostrum;
a famous scholar himself, and the sole patron, pillar, and
sustainer of learning : but his worth in this kind is so well
known, that (as Paterculus, of Cato) jam ipsum laudare nefas
sit; and (which b Pliny to Trajan) seria te carmina, honor que
aternus annalium , non hcec brevis et pudenda prcedicatio,
colet. But he is now gone, the sun of ours set; and yet no
night follows.
— - Sol occubuit ; nox nulla sequuta est.
We have such another in his room —
- — - : - - — c alter
Aureus ; et simili frondescit virga metallo ;
and long may he reign and flourish amongst us.
Let me not be malitious, and lye against my genius ; I
may not deny, but that we have a sprinkling of our gentry,
here and there one, excellently well learned, like those Fug-
geri in Germany, Dubartas, Du Plessis, Sadael in France,
Picus Mirandula, Schottus, Barotius in Italy :
Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto ;
but they are but few in respect of the multitude : the major part
(and some again excepted, that are indifferent) are wholly bent
for hawks and hounds, and carried away many times with in¬
temperate lust, gaming, and drinking. If they read a book at
any time, (si quid est interim otii a venatu, poculis, alea ,
scortis) ’tis ari English chronicle, St. Huon of Bordeaux,
Amadis de Gaul, &c. a play-book, or some pamphlet of
news, and that at such seasons only, when they cannot stir
abroad, to drive away time: d their sole discourse is dogs,
hawks, horses, and what news? If some one have been a tra¬
veller in Italy, or as far as the emperours court, wintered in
Orleance, and can court his mistris in broken French, wear his
clothes neatly in the newest fashion, sing some choice out¬
landish tunes, discourse of lords, ladies, towns, palaces,
and cities, he is compleat, and to be admired : e otherwise he
and they are much at one ; no difference betwixt the master
and the man, but worshipful titles : — wink, and choose betwixt
a Nemo est quem non Phoebus hie noster solo intuitu lubentiorem reddat.
bPanegyr. c Virgil. d Ranis enim ferme sensns communis in ilia Fortuna.
Juv. Sat. 8. e Quis enim generosum dixerit hunc, qui Indignus genere, et prse-
elaro nomine tantum Insignis? Juv. Sat. 8.
206
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
him that sits down (clothes excepted) and him that holds the
trencher behind him. Yet these men must be our patrons,
our-governors too sometimes, statesmen, magistrates, noble,
great and wise by inheritance.
Mistake me not (1 say again) vos, o patricius sanguis ! you
that are worthy senators, gentlemen, 1 honour your names
and persons, and with all submissness, prostrate myself to
your censure and service. There are amongst you, I do in¬
genuously confess, many well deserving patrons, and true
patriots, of my knowledge, besides many hundreds which I
never saw, no doubt, or heard of — pillars of our common¬
wealth, a whose worth, bounty, learning, forwardness, true
zeal in religion, and good esteem of all scholars, oughtto be
consecrated to all posterity : but, of your rank, there are de-
boshed, corrupt, covetous, illiterate crew again, no better than
stocks, merum pecus (testor Beum, non rnihi videri dignos
ingenui hominis appellatione) barbarous Thracians, (et quis
ille Thrax qui hoc neget V) a sordid, prophane, pernicious
company, irreligious, impudent and stupid, (Iknow notwhat
epithets to give them) enemies to learning, confounders of
the church, and the ruin of a common- wealth. Patrons they
are by right of inheritance, and put in trust freely to dispose
of such livings to the churches good ; but (hard task-masters
they prove) they take away their straw, and compel them to
make their number of brick : they commonly respect their
own ends; commodity is the steer of all their actions; and
him they present, in conclusion, as a man of greatest gifts,
that will give most : no penny, b no Pater-noster, as the say¬
ing is. Nisi preces aurd fulcias, amplius irritas ; ut Cerbe¬
rus off a. their attendants and officers must be bribed, fed,
and made, as Cerberus is by a sop by him that goes to hell.
It was an old saying, omnia Romee venalia;i’tis a rag ofpo-
pery; which will never be rooted out ; there is no hope, no
good to be done without money, A dark may offer himself,
approve his c worth, learning, honesty, religion, zeal : they
will commend him for it ; but
- - — — d probitas laudatur, et alget.
If he be a man of extraordinary parts, they will flock afar off
to hear him, as they did, in Apuleius, to see Psyche : multi
mortales confiuebant ad videndum sceculi decus , speculum,
a I have often met with my self, and conferred with, divers worthy gentlemen in
the conntrey, no whit inferiour, if not to be preferred for divers kind of learning to,
many of our academicks. b ipse, licet Musis venias comitatus, Homere, Si nihil
attuleris, ibis, Homere, foras. cEt legat historicos, auc tores noverit omnes,
Tamquam ungues digiiosque suos. Juv. Sat. 7.' . d Juvenal.
207
Mem. 3. Subs. 15.] Study, a Cause.
ffloriosum : laudatur ab omnibus ; spectatwr ab ommhus ; nec
quisquam, non rex, non : regius , cupiens ejus nuptiarum, petitor
accedit ; mirantur quidem divinam speciem omnes ; sed, ut si¬
mulacrum fabre politum, mirantur : many mortal men came to
see fair Psyche, the glory of her age : they did admire her,
commend, desire her for her divine beauty, and gaze upon
her, but, as on a picture : none would marry her, quod indo -
tata : fair Psyche had no money. aSo they do by learning :
- b didicit jam dives avarus
Tantum admirari, tantum laudare, disertos,
Ut pueri Junonis avem - —
Your rich men have now learn’d of latter dayes
T’ admire, commend, and come together
To hear and see a worthy scholar speak,
As children do a peacocks feather.
He shall have all the good words that may be given, “ c a pro-
Eer man, and ’tis pity he hath no preferment,” all good wishes ;
ut, inexorable, indurate as he is, he will notprefer him, though
it be in his power, because he is indotatus , he hath no money.
Or, if he do give him entertainment* let him be never so well
qualified, plead affinity, consanguinity, sufficiency* he shall
serve seven years, as Jacob did for Rachel, before he shall have
it. d If he will enter at first, he must get in at that simoniacal
gate, come off soundly, and put in good security to perform
all covenants ; else Ire will not deal with, or admit /him. But,
if some poor scholar, some parson chaff, will offer himself ;
spme trencher chaplain, that will take it to the halves, thirds,
or accept of what he will give, he is welcom ; be conformable,
preach as be will have him, he takes him before a million of
others ; for the best is al way es best cheap : and then (as Hierom
said to Cromatius) patella dignum operculum : such a patron,
such a dark ; the cure is well supplied, and all parties pleased.
So that is still verified in our age, which eCIirysostome com¬
plained of in his time : qui opulentiores sunt, in ordinem pa-
rasitorum .cogunt eos, et ipsos tamquam canes ad mensas suas
enutrmnt, eorumque impudentes ventres iniquarum ccenarum,
reliquiis differ ciunt, iisdem pro arbiiric abutentes : rich men
keep these lecturers, and fawning parasites, like so many dogs,
at their tables ; and, filling their hungry guts with the offals of
a- Tn vero licet Orpheus sis, saxa sono testndinis emolliens, nisi plombea eornm
corda auri vel argenti malleo emollias, &c. Salisbnriensis, Polycrat. lib. 5. c. 10.
b Juven. Sat. 7. cEnge! bene! no need. Donsa epod. 1. 3. Dos ipsa scientia,
sibiqne congiarium. est d Qnatdor ad portasecclesias iinr ad omnes ; Sanguinis,
aut 'Simonis, praasdlis, atqde Dei. Holcot. e Lib. contra Gentiles, de Babila
martyre.
208
Causes of Melancholy. [Part I. Sec. 2.
their meat, they abuse them at their pleasure, and make them
say what they propose. a As children do hy a bird or a but¬
terfly e in a string, pull in and let him out as they list, do they
by their trencher chaplains, prescribe, command their wits, let
in and out, as to them it seems best. If the patron be precise,
so must his chaplain be; if he be papistical, his dark must be
so too, or else be turned out. These are those darks which
serve the turn, whom they commonly entertain, and present
to church -livings, whilst in the mean time we,, that are uni¬
versity-men, like so many hide-bound calves in a pasture,
tarry out our time, wither away as a flower ungathered in a
garden, and are never used or, as too many candles, illumi¬
nate our selves alone, obscuring one anothers light, and are
not discerned here at all ; the least of which, translated to a
dark room, or to some countrey benefice, where it might shine
apart, would give a fair light, and be seen over all. Whilst
we lye waiting here (as those sick men did at the pool of bBe-
thesda, till the angel stirred the water) expectinga good hour,
they step between, and beguile us of our preferment. I have
not yet said. If, after long expectation, much expehce, travel,
earnest suit of our selves and friends, we obtain a small bene¬
fice at last, our misery begins afresh; we are suddenly en¬
countered writh the flesh, world, and devil, with a new onset :
we change a quiet life for an ocean of troubles ; we come to a
ruinous house, which, before it be habitable, must be neces¬
sarily (to our great damage) repaired: we are compelled to
sue for dilapidations, or else sued our selves; and, scarce yet
setled, we are called upon for our predecessors arrerages :
first fruits, tenths, subsidies, are instantly to be paid, benevo¬
lence, procurations, &c. and (which is most to be feared) we
light upon a crackt title, as it befell Clenard of Brabant, for
his rectory and charge of his Beginae ; he was no sooner in¬
ducted, but instantly sued, ccepimusque (csaith he) strenue li-
tigare, et implacabili hello confligere: at length, [after ten years
suit, (as long as Troyes siege) when he had tired himself, and
spent his money, he was fain to leave all for quietness sake,
and give it up to his adversary. Or else we are insulted over,
and trampled on by domineering officers, fleeced by those
greedy harpyes to get more fees, we stand in fear of some
precedent lapse : we fall amongst refractory, seditious secta¬
ries, peevish puritans, perverse papists, a lascivious rout of
atheistical Epicures, that will not be reformed, or some
a Prsescribunt, imperant, in ordinem cogunt ; ingenium nostrum, prout ipsis videbi-
tur, astringunt et relaxant, ut papilioDem pueri ant bruchum filo demittunt, aut attra-
hunt_, nos a libidine sua pendere aequum censentes. Heinsius. !) John 5.
eEpist. 1. 2. Jam suffectus in locum demortui...protiuHs exortus est adversarius, &c.
post muitos labores, sumtus, &c.
209
Mem. 3. Subs. 15.] Study , a Cause.
litigious people, (those wild beasts of Ephesus must be
fought with) that will not pay their dues without much
repining, or compelled by long suit ; laid clericis op-
pido infesti, an old axiom ; all they think well gotten that is
had from the church; and, by such uncivil harsh dealings,
they make their poor miuister weary of his place, if not his
life : and put case they be quiet honest men, make the best
of it, as often it falls out, from a polite and terse academick, he
must turn rustick, rude, melancholise alone, learn to forget,
or else, as many do, become maltsters, grasiers, chapmen, &c.
(now banished from the academy, all commerce of the Muses,
and confined to a countrey village, as Ovid was from Rome to
Pontus) and daily converse with a company of idiots and
clowns.
Nos interim quod attinet ( nec enim immunes ab hac noxa
sumus ) idem reatus manet ; idem nobis, et si non multo gra-
vius, crimen objici potest : nostra enim culpa jit, nostra incu-
ria, nostra avaritia, quod tamjrequentes,jcedoequejiantinec-
clesia nundinationes , (templum est venale, Deusque) tot sor-
des invehantur, tanta grassetur impietas, tarita nequitia, tarn
insanus miseriarum Euripus, et turbarum cestuarium, nostro,
inquam, omnium ( academicorum imprimis ) vitio jit. Quod tot
resp. mails afficiatur , a nobis seminarium ; ultro malum hoc
accersimus, et quads contumelia, quads interim miseria digni,
qui pro drill non occurrimus. Quid enim jieri posse spera-
mus, quum tot indies sine delectu pauperes alumni , terrce jilii ,
et cujuscunque ordinis homunciones, ad gradus certatim ad-
mittantur ?- qui si dejinitionem, distinctionemque unam aut
alteram memoriter edidicerint, et pro more tot annos in dialec-
ticd posuerint, non refert quo projectu, quales demum sint ,
idiotce, nugatores , otiatores, aleatores, compotores, indigni,
libidinis voluptatumque administri,
. ■ Sponsi Penelopes, nebulones, Alcinoique,
modo tot annos in academia insumpserint, et se pro togatis
venditarint ; lucricaussa.et amicorum inter cessupraesentantur;
addo etiam, et magn'jicis nonnunquam elogiis morum et sden-
tice ; et, jam valedicturi, testimonialibus hisce Uteris, amplis-
sime conscriptis in eorum gratiam, honorantur, abiis, qui jidei
sure et existimationis jactur am proculdubio jaciunt . Doctores
enim et professores ( quod ait* ille) id unum curant, ut ex
professionibus frequentibus, et tumultuariis potius quam
legitimis, commoda sua promoveant, et ex dispendio publico
3 Jun. Acad. cap. 6.
210
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. I. Sec. 2.
Suum faciant incrementum. Id solum in votis habent annui
plenimque magistratus, ut ab incipientium numero a pecunias
emungant ; nec multum interest, qui sint, liter atores an lite¬
rati, modo pingues, nitidi, ad aspectum speciosi, et ( quod
verbo dicam) pecuniosi sint. b Phiiosophastri licentiantur in
artibus, artem qui non habent ; c eosque sapientes esse jubent,
qui nulla prasditi sunt sapientia, et nihil ad gradum, praeter-
quam velle, adferunt. Theologastri , ( solvant modo ) satis
superque docti, per omnes honor um gradus evehuntur et ascen-
dunt. Jltque hinc fit quod tarn viles scurrce, tot passim idiotce,
literarum crepusculo positi, larvae pastorum, circumforanei,
vagi, bardi, fungi, crassi, asini, merum pecus, in sacrosanctos
theologies aditus illotis pedibus ir rampant, prceter inverecun-
dam frontem aeferentes nihil, vulgares quasdam quisquilias,
et scholarium queedam nug amenta, indigna quee vel red -
piantur in triviis. Hoc illud indignum genus hominum et
famelieum, indignum, vagum, ventris mancipium, ad stivam
potius releg andum,’ ad haras aptius quam ad dr as, quod divi-
nashasce liter as iur piter prostituit — hi sunt quipulpitacom-
plenl, in cedes nobilium irreputit, et quum reliquis vitce desti-
tuantur subsidiis, ob corporis et animi egesfatem, alianm in
repub. partium minime capaces Sint, adsacram hanc anchor am
Confugiunt, sacerdotium quovis modo cap (antes, non ex since-
ritate, (quod d Paulus ait) se cauponantes verbum Dei. JYe
quis interim viris bonis detr actum quidputet, quoshabet eccle*
sia Anglicana quamplurimos, egregie doctos, illustres,intactee
fames homines, et pluses for san quam queevis Europce pro¬
vincial tie quis a florentissimis academiis, quee viros unde*
quaque doetissimos, omni virtutum genere suspiciendos, dbunde
produeunt ; et multo plureS utraque habitura, multo splendi-
dior futura, si non hce sordes splendidum, lumen ejus obfus*
carent, obstaret corruptio, et cauponantes queedam Harpyice,
proletariique , bonum hoc nobis non inviderent. Nemo enim
tarn caeca mente, qui non hoc ipsu.m videal ; nemo tarn stolido
ingenio, qui non intelligat; tarn pertinaci judicio, qui non
dgnoscat, ab his idiotis circumforaneis sacram pollui theolo-
giam, ac coelestes 'Musas, quasi profanum quiddam , prostitui.
Viles animae et effrontes (sic enim, Lutlierus c dlicubi vocat)
lucelli caussa, ut muscse ad mulctra, ad nobilium et heroum
mensas ad volant : in spem saeerdotii, cujuslibet honoris, officii,
in quamvis aulam, urbem seingerunt, ad quodvis se ministerium
componunt :
s Accipiamus peemriam, demittamus asinum, ut apnd Patavinos Italos. _ bHos
non ita pridem perstrinxi, in Philosophastro, Comcedia Latina, in iEde Christi Oxon.
pnblice habita, anno 1617. Feb. 16. cSat. Menip. d 1 Cor. 7. 17.
e Comment in Gal.
Mem. 3. Subs. 15.] Why the Muses are Melancholy. 211
- Ut nervis alienis mobile lignum
Ducitur,
a offam sequentes, psittacorum more, in praedas spem quidvis
effutiunt; obsecundantes parasiti (b Erasmus ait ) quidvis do¬
cent. dicunt, scribunt, suadent, et contra conscientiam pro-
bant, non ut salutarem reddant gregem, sed ut magnificam sibi
parent fortunam. cOpinionesquasvis et decreta contra verbura
Dei astruunt, ne offendant patronum, sed ut retineant fa-
vorem procerum et populi plausum, sibique ipsis opes accu-
mulent. Eo etenim plerumque animo ad theoloyiam accedunt,
non ut rem divinam, sed ut suam,faciant ; non ad ecclesice
bonum promovendum, sed expilandum; qucerentes ( quod Pau-
lus ait) non quae Jesu Cbristi, sed quae sua, non Domini the-
saurum , sed ut sibi suisque thesaurizent. JSTec tantum Us,
qui vilioris fortunes, et abjectcs sortis sunt , hoc in usu est ;
sed et medios, summos, elatos, ne dicam episcopos, hoc malum
invasit.
d Dicite, pontifices, in sacris quid faeit aurum ?
esummos saepe viros transversos agit avaritia ; et qui reliquis
morum probitate praelucerent , hi facem proof erunt ad simo-
niam, et in corruptionis hunc scopulum impinyentes, non
tondent pecus , sed deylubunt, et, quocunque se conferunt , ex-
pilant , exhauriunt , abradunt, maynum fames suce, si non
animee, naufrayium facientes ; ut non ab ihfimis ad summos ,
sed a summis ad infimos, malum promanasse videatur, et illud
verum sit, quod ille olim lusit ,
, Emerat ille prins, vendere jure potest :
Simoniacus enim ( quod cum Leone dicam ) gratiam non aeci-
pit; si non aceipit, non babet; et si non habet, nec gratus po¬
test esse, nec gratis dare : tantum enim absunt istorum non-
nulli, qui ad clavum sedent, a promovendo reliquos, ut penitus
impediant, probe sibi conscii, quibus artibus illic pervenerint :
f nam qui ob literas emersisse illos credat, desipit; qui vero in-
genii, ernditionis, experientiae, probitatis, pietatis, et Musarum
id esse pretium putat ( quod olim re vera fuit , hodie promitti-
tur) planissime insanit. Utcunque vel undecunque malum hoc
oriyinem ducat ( non ultra queer am ) ex his primordiis ccepit
vitiorum colluvies ; omnis calamitas, omne miseriarum aymen,
in ecclesiam invehitur. Hinc tamfrequens simonia ; hinc ortoe
quereloe, fraudes, [impostures ; ab hoefonte se derivdrunt om-
nes nequitice, — ne quid obiter dicam de ambitione , adulatione
plusquam aulica, ne tristi domiccenio laborent, de luxu, de
feedo nonnunquam vitas exemplo , quo nonnullos offendunt , de
a Heinsias. b Ecclesiast. c Luth. in Gal. d Pers. Sat. 2. e Sallust.
Sat Menip. '
212
Causes of Melancholy, [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
compotatione Sybaritica, Spc. Mine ille squalor academicus,
tristes hac tempestate Camoenas, quum quivis homunculus, ar-
tium ignarus, his artibus assurgat, hunc in modum promovea-
tur et ditescat, ambitiosis appellationibus insignis , et multis
dignitatibus augustus, vulgi oculos perstringat, bene se habeat,
et grandia gradiens, majestatem quamdam ac amplitudinem
pree se ferens, miramque solicitudinem, barba reverendus, toga
nitidus, purpura coruscus, supellectilis splendore etfamulorum
numero maxime conspicuus. Quales statuae (quod ait a ille)
quse sacris in aedibus columnis imponuntur, velut oneri cedeo-
tes videntur, ac si in.sudarent, quum re vera sensu sint caren-
tes, et nihil saxeam adjuvent firmitatem ; Atlantes videri vo-
lunt, quum sint statuae lapideae , umbratiles re verd homuncio -
nes, fungi for san et bardi , nihil a saxo differ enies ; quum in -
terim docti viri, et vitae sanctioris ornamentis praediti, qui ces¬
ium diei sustinent, his iniqud sorte serviant, minimo for san
salario contenti, puris nominibus nuncupati , hundles, obscuri ;
multoque digniores licet, egentes, inhonor ati, vitamprivam pri-
vatam agant; tenuique sepulti sacerdotio, vel in collegiis suis
in ceternum incarcerati , inglorie delitescant : — sed nolo diutius
hanc movere sentinam. Hinc illce lacrymce, lugubris Musa-
rum habitus ; b hinc ipsa religio ( quod cum Secellio dicam) in
iudibriuna et contemtum adducitur, abjectum sacerdotium,
(atque hcec ubifiunt , ausim dicere, et putidum cputidi dicte-
riumde clero usurpare ) putidum vulgus, inops, rude, sordidumt
melancholicum , miserum, despicabile, contemnendum.
MEMB. IV. SUBSECT. I.
Non-necessary , remote, outward, adventitious, or accidental
causes ; as first from the Nurse .
Of those remote, outward, ambient necessary causes, I
have sufficiently discoursed in the precedent member. The
non-necessary follow; of which (saith d Fuchsius) no art can
be made, by reason of their uncertainty, casualty, and multi¬
tude ; so called not-necessary, because (according to e Ferne-
lius) they may be avoided, and used without necessity.
Many of these accidental causes, which I shall entreat of here,
might have well been reduced to the former, because they
cannot be avoided, but fatally happen to us, though accident¬
ally, and unawares, at some time or other : the rest are con-
a Budaens, de Asse, lib. 5. bJLib. de rep. Gallornm. c Cam plan. d Prooem.
lib. 2. Nalla ars constitni potest e Lib. 1. c. 19. de morborum caussis. Quas
declinare licet, aut nulla necessitate Htimur.
Nurse, a. Cause.
Mem. 4. Subs. 1.]
tingent and evitable, and more properly inserted in this rank
of causes. To reckon up all, is a thing unpossible ; of some
therefore most remarkable of these contingent causes which
produce melancholy, I will briefly speak, and in their order.
From a childs nativity, the first ill accident that can likely
befall him in this kind, is a bad nurse, by whose means alone
he may be tainted with this a malady from his cradle. Aulus
Gellius (l. 12. c. i) brings in Pbavorinus, that eloquent philo¬
sopher, proving this at large, bthat there is the same vertue
and property in the milk as in the seed , and not in men alone ,
hut in all other creatures. He gives instance in a kid and lamb :
if either of them suck of the others milk, the lamb of the
f oates, or the kid of the ewes , the wooll of the one will he
ard, and the hair of the other soft. Giraldus Cambrensis
(Itinerar. Cambrice, l. 1. c.%) confirms this by . a notable
example, which happened in his time. A sow-pig by chance
sucked a brach, and, when she was grown, e would miracu¬
lously hunt all manner of deer , and that as well , or rather
better , than any ordinary hound. His conclusion is, d that
men and beasts participate of her nature and conditions , by
whose milk they are fed. Phavorinus urgeth it farther, and
demonstrates it more evidently, that if a nurse be e mis-shapen ,
unchaste , unhonest, impudent , drunk , f cruel, or the like, the
child that sucks upon her breast will be so too : all other affec¬
tions of the mind, and diseases, are almost ingraffed, as it were,
and imprinted in the temperature of the infant, by the nurses
milk, as pox, leprosie, melancholy, &c. Cato, for some
such reason, would make his servants children suck upon his
wives breast, because, by that means, they would love him
and his better, and in all likelihood agree with them. A
more evident example that the minds are altered by milk, can¬
not be given, that that of §Dion, which he relates of Caligu-
las cruelty; it could neither be imputed to father nor mother,
but to his cruel nurse alone, that anointed her paps with blood
still when he sucked, which made him such a murderer, and
to express her cruelty to an hair; and that of Tiberius, who
was a common drunkard, because his nurse was such a one.
a Quo semel est imbnta recens, servabit odorem Testa din. Hor. b Sicut
valet ad fingendas corporis atque anirai similitudines vis et natura seminis, sic quo-
que lactis proprietas. Neque id in hominibus solum, sed in pecudibus, animad-
versum : nam si ovium lacte hoedi, aut caprarum agni alerentur, constat fieri in his
lanam duriorem, in illis capillum gigni teneriorem. - c Adulta in ferarum per-
sequutione ad miraculum usque sagax. 11 Tam animal quodlibet, quam homo, ab
ilia, cujus lacte nutritur, naturam contrahit. e Improba, infomiis, impudica,
temulenta nutrix, &c. quoniam in moribus efformandis magnam saepe partem inge-
mium altrieis et natura lactis tenet. f Hyrcanaeque admorant ubera tigres. Virg.
Slab. 2. die Cssaribus.
§14 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. See. 2:
Et si delira fuerit, (aone observes) infantulum delirium fa-
ciet ; if she be a fool or a dolt, the child she nurseth will take after
her, or otherwise be misaffected ;f which Franciseus Barbarus
(l. 2. ult. de re uxorid ) proves at full, and Ant. Guivarra
(lib. 2 de Marco Aurelio ) : the child will surely participate.
For bodily sickness, there is no doubt to be made. Titus, Ves-
pasians son, was therefore sickly, because the nurse was so
(Lampridius) : and, if we may believe physicians, many times
children catch the poxfrom a bad nurse, (Botaldus, cap. 61. de
lue Vener.) Besides evil attendance, negligence, and many
fross inconveniences, which are incident to nurses, much
anger may so come to the child. b For these causes Aristotle
(Polit. lib. 7. c. 17), Phavorinus, and Marcus Aurelius, would
not have a child put to nurse at all, but every mother to
bring up her own, of what condition soever she be ; fora
sound and able mother to, put out her child to nurse, is na- -
turce intemperies (so c Guatso calls it) : ’tis fit therefore she
should be nurse her self; themfother will be more careful, lov¬
ing and attendant, than any servile woman, or such hired
creatures ; this all the world acknowledged : convenientissi-
mum est (as Bod. a Castro, denat. mulierum, lib. 4. c. 12, in
many words confessed) matrem ipsarn lactare mfantem, (who
denies that it should be so?) and which some women most cu¬
riously observe ; amongst the rest, 4 that queen of France, a
Spaniard by birth, that was so precise and zealous in this be¬
half, that when, inker absence, astrange nurse had suckled her
child, she was never quiet till she had made* the infant vomit
it up again. But she was-too jealous. If it be so, as many
times it , is, they must be put forth, the mother be not fit or
well able to be a nurse, I would then advise such mothers, (as:
e Plutarch doth in his. book de liberis educandisy and fS, Hies
rom e, lib. %. epist. 27. Loetas de institut. fi. Magninus, part: 2.
Reg. sanit. cap. 7, and the said Bodericusj that they make
choice of a sound woman, of a good complexion, honest, free
from bodily diseases, if it be possible, and all passions and per¬
turbations of the mind, as sorrow, fear, grief, ? folly, melan¬
choly : for such passions corrupt the milk, and alter the. tem¬
perature of the child, which now being hudum et molle lutum »
is easily seasoned and perverted. And if such a nurse may
be found out, that will be diligent and careful withall, let Pha¬
vorinus and M. Aurelius plead how they can against it, 1 had
rather accept of her in some cases than the mother her
a Beda, c. 27. L 1. Eccles. hist. b Ne insitivo lactis alimento" cegeneret cor¬
pus, et animus corrampatur. c Lib. 3. de civ. cohserv. d Stephanas,
eTo. 2. Nutrices non quasvis, sed maxime probas,- deligamus. fNutrix non sit
lasciva ant temulenta. Hiei. S Prohibendum ne stolida lactet. bPers.
.Education, a Cause.
215-
Mem. 4- Subs- 2.]
self ; and (which Bonacialus the physician, Nic. Biesius the
politician, lib. 4. de repub. cap. 8. approves * some nurses are
much to be preferred to some mothers. For why may not the
mother be naught, a peevish drunken fiurt, a waspish chole-
rickslut, a crazed piece, afool, (as many mothers are) unsound,
as soon as the nurse ? There is more choice of nurses, than
mothers ; and therefore, except the mother be most vertuous,
staid, a woman of excellent good parts, and of a sound com¬
plexion, I would have all children, in such cases, committed
to discreet strangers. And ’tis the only way (as by marriage
they are engrafted to other families) to alter the breed, or, if
any thing be amiss in the mother, (as Ludovicus Mercatus
contends, Tom. 2. lib. de morb. hcered.) to prevent diseases and
future maladies, to correct and qualifie the childs ill-disposed
temperature, which he had from his parents. This is an ex¬
cellent remedy, if good choice be made of such a nurse.
SUBSECT. II.
Education, a Cause of Melancholy .
EDUCATION, of these accidental causes of melancholy,
may justly challenge the next place ; for if a man escape a
bad nurse, he may be undone by evil bringing up. b Jason
Pratensis puts this of education for a principal Cause : bad
parents, step-mothers, tutors, masters, teachers, too rigorous,
too severe, too remiss or indulgenton the Other side, are often
fountains and furtherers of this disease. Parents, and such as
have the tuition and oversight of children, offend many times
in that they are too stern, al way threatning, chiding, brawling,
whipping, or striking; by means of which, their poor children
are so disheartned and cowed, that they never after have
any courage, a merry hour in their lives, or take pleasure in
anything. There is a great moderation to be had in such
things, as matters of so great moment to the making or marring
of a child. Some fright their children with beggers, bugbears,
and hobgoblins, if they cry, or be otherways unruly : but,
they are much to blame in it, many times, saith Lavater (de
spectris, part. 1. cap. 5) : ex metu in morbos graves incidunt,
etnoctu dormientes clamant ; for fear they fall into many dis¬
eases, and cry out in their sleep, and are much the worse for
it all their lives ; these things ought not at all, or to be sparingly
a Nutrices intei'dam matribus sunt meliores. b Lib. de morbis capitis, cap. de
mania. Hand postrema caussa snpputatur educatio, inter has mentis abalienationis
eanssas.— Injusta noverca.
von. i. *
216 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. l. See. 2.
done, arid upon j ust occasion. Tyrannical, impatient, hair-
brain’d school-masters, aridi magistri , so 21 Fabius terms them,
Ajaces fagelliferi, are, in this kind, as bad as hang-men and
executioners: they make many children endure a martyrdom
all the while they are at school: with bad diet, if they board in
their houses, too much severity arid ill usage, they quite per¬
vert their temperature of body and mirid— -still chiding, ray-
ling, frowning, lashing, tasking, keeping, that they ar efracti
animis, moped many times, weary of their lives, b nimia seve-
ritate deficiunt et desperant, and think no slavery iri the
world (as once I did myself) like to that of a grammar scho¬
lar. Prceceptorum ineptiis discruciantur ingenia puerorum ,
saith Erasmus : they tremble at his voice, looks, coming in.
S‘. Austin, in the first book of his confess, and 4. ca. calls this
schooling meticulosam necessitate^, and elsewhere a martyr¬
dom, arid confesseth of himself, how cruelly he was tortured
in mind for learning Greek ; nulla verba noveram ; et scevis
terroribus et poems , ut kossem , instabatur mihi vehementer : I
knew nothing ; and with cruel terrours and punishment I was
daily compel’d. c Beza complains in like case of a rigorous
schoolmaster in Paris, that made him, by his continual thun¬
der and threats, once in a mind to drown himself, had he not
inet by the way an uncle of his that vindicated him from that
misery for the time, by taking him to his house. Trincayel-
lius (lib. 1. consil. 16) had a patient nineteen years of age,
extreamly melancholy, ob nimium studium Tarvitii et prce-
ceptoris minds, by reason of overmuch study, and his d tutors
threats. Many masters are hard hearted, and bitter to their
servants, arid by that means do so deject, with terrible
speeches and hard usage so crucifie them, that they become
desperate, and can never be recalled.
Others again, in that opposite extream, do as great harm by
fheir too much remissness j they give them no bringing up, no
calling to brisie themselves about, or to live in, teach them no
trade, or set them in any good course ; by means of which,
their -servants, children,. scholars, are carried away with that
stream of drunkenness, idleness, gaming, and many such irre¬
gular courses, that in the end they rue it, curse their parents,
arid mischief , themselves. Too much indulgence causeth the
like, e inepta patris leniias et faciliias prava, when.as, Micio-
jike, with too much liberty and trio great allowance, they feed
their Childrens humours, let them revel, wench, riot, swagger,
a Lib. 2. cap, C
■ nihil conantuiv
sapercilio abstulit
Adel. 3. 4.
h Idem. Et, quod maxime nocet, dum itfteneris itatiment,
c Prajfat. ad Testam. d Plus mentis praedagogico
i unquarn praeceptis siiis sapientiae instillavit: " eTer.
217
Mem. 4. Subs. 2.] Education, a Cause.
and do what they will themselves, and then punish them
with a noise of musicians.
a Obsonet, potet, oleat unguenia de meo.
Amat ? dabitur a me argentum, dum erit comoaadu&u
Fores effregit? restituentur ; discidit
Vestem ? resarcietur _ Faciat quod Iubet,
Sumat, consumat, perdat : decretom est pati.
But, as Pemea fold him, tu ilium corrvmpi sinis, your lenity
will be his undoing ; prcevidere videor jam diem ilium, quum
Me egens profugiet aliquo militatum ; I foresee his ruine. So
parents often err : many fond mothers, especially, dote so much
upon their children, like biEsops ape, till in the end they
crush them to death. Corporum nutrices, animarum novercce,
pampering up their bodies to the undoing of their souls, they
will not let them be c corrected or nontroled, but still soothed
up in every thing they do, that, in conclusion, they bring sor¬
row, shame, heaviness, to their parents, ( Ecclus . cap. SO. 8. 9)
become wanton, stubborn, wilful, and disobedient ; rude,- un¬
taught, head-strong, incorrigible, and graceless. They love
them so foolishly, (saith d Cardan) that they rather seem to
hate them, bringing them not up to vertue, but injury, not to
learning , but to riot, not to sober life and conversation, but to
all pleasure and licentious behaviour . Who is he of so little
experience, that knows not this of Fabius to be true ‘l * Educa¬
tion is another nature, altering the mind and will, and I would
to God (saith he) we our selves did not spoile our childrens
manners, by our overmuch cockering and nice education, and
weaken the strength of their bodies and minds. That causeth
custom, custom nature, &c. For these causes, Plutarch (in his
book de lib. educ.) and Hierom, (epist. lib. i. epist. 17. to
Loeta de institut. folios) gives a most especial charge to all pa¬
rents, and many good cautions about bringing up of children,
that they be not committed to undiscreet, passionate, Bedlam
tutors, light, giddy-headed, or covetous persons, arid spare
for no cost, that they may be well nurtured and taught ; it
being a matter of so great consequence. For, such parents as
do otherwise, Plutarch esteems like them ithat are more careful
aTer. Adel. act. 1. sc. 2. b Camerarius, em. 77. cent 2, hath elegantly ex¬
pressed it in an embleme : perdit amando, &c. c Prov. 13. 24. 'He that spareth
the rod hates his son. dLib. 2. de consol. Tam stnlte pueros diligimns. Ht.
odisse potins videamur : illos non ad ’virtutem sed ad injnriam, non ad erndfilonem
sed ad luxum, non ad vitam sed volnptatemeducantes. eBib. 1. c. 3.
Edncatio altera natura ; alterat animos et vclnntatem : atque utinam (inqnii) liberomta
nostrorum mores non ipsi perderemns, quam infantiam statim deliciis solvimns ; mol-
lior ista edncatio, qnam indalgentiam vbcamus, nervos omnes, et mentis et corporis,
frangit: fit ex his consnetndo, indenatnra. _ fPerinde agit ac siqtris de calceo
sit solicitns, pedem nihil curet. Jnven. Nil patri minus est qnam fiiius.
218 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
of their shooes than of their feet, that rate their wealth above
their children. And he, (saith a Cardan) that leaves his son
to a covetous schoolmaster to bp informed, or to a close abby to
fast and learn wisdom together , doth no other, than that he be
a learned fool, or a sickly wise man.
SUBSECT. III.
Terr ours and Affrights, Causes of Melancholy.
TuLLY (in the fourth of his Tusculans) distinguisheth these
terrours which arise from the apprehension of some terrible
object heard or seen, from other fears ; and so doth Patritius
(lib. b. tit. 4. de regis institut.) Of all fears, they are most
pernicious and violent, and so suddainly alter the whole tem¬
perature of the body, move the soul and spirits, strike such
a deep impression, that the parties can never be recovered,
causing more grievous and fiercer melancholy (as FelixPlater,
c. S. de mentis alienat. bspeaks outof his experience) than any
inward cause whatsoever ; and imprints it self so forcibly in the
spirits, brain, humours, that, if all the mass of blood were let
out of the body, it could hardly be extracted. This horrible
kind of melancholy (for so he terms it) had been often brought
, before him, and troubles and affrights commonly men and wo¬
men, young and old, of all sorts. c Hercules de Saxonia calls
this kind of melancholy (ab agitatione spirituum) by a pe¬
culiar name ; it comes from the agitation, motion, contraction,
dilatation of spirits, not from any distemperature of humours,
and produceth strong effects. This terrour is most usually
caused (as d Plutarch will have) from some imminent danger,
when a terrible object is at hand, heard, seen, or conceived,
e truly appearing, or in a 1 dream : and many times, the- more
sudden the accident, it is the more violent.
eStat terror animis, etcor attonitum salit,
Pavidumque trepidis palpitat venis jecur.
a Lib. 3. de sapient. Qni avaris pasdagogis pueros alendos dant, vel clausos in
ccenobiis jejunare simul et sapere, nihil aliud agunt,' nisi ut sint vel non sine stultitia
eruditi, vel non Integra vM sapientes. b Terror et metus, ma'xime ex
improviso accidentes, ita animum commovent, nt spiritus nunquam recuperent : gra- .
Vioremque melaricholiam terror facit, qaam qnse ab interna caussa fit. Impressiotam.
fortis in spiritibus humoribusque cerebri,, ut, extracta tota sanguine.a massa, segre
exprimatur ; et hsec horrenda species melancholias frequenter oblata mihi, omnes
exercens, viros, juvenes, senes. cTract. demelan. cap. 7. et. 8. Non ab intem-
perie, sed agitatione, dilatatione, contractione, motu spirituum. d Lib. de fort,
et virtut Alex. Praesertim ineunte periculo, nbi res propeadsunt terribiles. eFit
n visione horrenda, revera apparente, vel per insomnia. Platerus. f A painters
wife 'in Basil, 1600, somniavit filium bello mortuum ; inde melaneholica consolari
noluit, sSenec. Here, CEt.
Mem. 4. Subs, 3.J Terrours and Affrights, Cause*. 219
Their soul’s affright, their heart amazed quakes.
The trembling liver pants ith’ veins, and akes.
Artemidorus the grammarian lost his wits by the unexpected
sight of a crocodile (Lauymtius, 7. demelan.) a The massacre
at Lions, in 1572, in the reign of Charles the ninth, was so
terrible and fearful, that many ran mad, some died, great-
bellied women were brought to bed before their time, gene¬
rally all affrighted and agast. Many lose their wits b by the
sudden sight of some spectrum or devil, a thing very -common
in all ages , (saith Lavater, part. 1 . cap. 9.) as Orestes did at
the sight of the Furies, which appeared to him in black (as
cPausanias records). The Greeks call them //.o^oXvkm^ which
so terrifie their souls. Or if they be but affrighted by some
counterfeit devils in jest,
( - - — -d ut pueri trepidant, atque omnia csecis
In tenebris metuunt- - - — '
as children in the dark conceive hobgoblins, and are sore afraid ^
they are the worse for it all their lives : some, by sudden fires
earthquakes, inundations, or any such dismal objects. Themi-
son the physician fell into an hydrophobia by seeing one sick
of that disease (Dioscorides, l. 6. c. 33) : or by the sight of a
monster, a carcase, they are disquieted many months follow¬
ing, and cannot endure the room where a coarse hath been,
for a world would not be alone with a dead man, or lye in that
bed many years after, in which a man hath died. At e Basil, a
many little children, in the spring time, went to gather flowers
in ajneadow at the towns end, where a' malefactor hung in
gibbets : all gazing at it, one by chance flung a stone, and
made it stir; by which accident the children affrighted ran
away : one, slower than the rest, looking back, and seeing the
stirred carcase wag towards her, cried out it came after, and
was so terribly affrighted, that for many dayes she could not
rest, eat, or sleep; she could notbe pacified, but melancholy died.
fIn the same town, another child, beyond the Rhine, saw a
grave opened, and, upon the sight of a carcase, was so troubled
in mind, that she could not be comforted, but a little after
departed, and was buried by it (Platerus, observat. 1. I). A
gentlewoman of the same city saw a fat hog cut up, when the
aQuarta pars comment, de statu religionis in Gallia sub Carolo ix. 1572. b Ex
occursu daemonum aliqui furore corripiuntur, ut experientia notum est. c Lib. 8.
in Arcad. d Lucret. e Puellae extra urbem in prato concurrentes, &c.
moesta et melancholica domum rediit; per dies aliquot vexata, dummortua est. Plater.
f Altera trans-Rhenana, ingressa sepulchrum recens apertum, vidit cadaver, et do¬
mum subito reversa putavit earn vocare : post paucos dies obiit, proximo sepulcrocol-
locata. Altera, patibulnm-sero prseteriens, metuebat ne urbe exclusa illic pemocta-
ret ; unde melancholica. facta, per multos annos laboravit. Platerus.
220 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1 . Sec. 2.
intrals were opened, and a noysome savour offended her nose,
she much misliked, and would not longer abide ; a physician,
in presence, told her, as that bog, so was she, full of filthy ex¬
crements, and aggravated the matter by some other loathsome
instances; in so much, this nice /gentlewoman apprehended
it so deeply, that she fell forthwith a vomiting, was so mightily
distempered in mind and body, that* with all his art and per-
swasions, for some months after, he could not restore her to
her self again ; she could not forget it, or remove the object
out of her sight {I deni). Many cannot endure to see a wound
opened, but they afe offended ; a man execufed, or labour
of any fearful disease, as possession, apoplexies, one be¬
witched j a or, if they read by chance of some terrible thing,
th e sympioraes alone of such a disease, or that which they dis¬
like, they are instantly troubled in mind, agast, ready to apply
it to themselves ; they are as much disquieted, as if they had
seen it, or were so affected themselves, Hecatas sibi videniur
somniare ; they dream and continually think of it. As la¬
mentable effects are caused by such terrible objects heard,
read, or seen : auditus maximos motus in corpore Jack, as
b Plutarch holds ; no sense makes greater alteration of body
and mind; sudden speech sometimes, unexpected news, be they
good or bad, prcevisa Minus bratio, will move as much, (am*
mum obruere, et de sede su& dej'ieere, as a e philosopher ob¬
serves) Will take away Our sleep and appetite, disturb and
quite overturn us. Let them bear witness, that have heard
those tragical alarums, out-cryes, hideous noises, which are
many times suddenly heard in th e dead of the night by irrup¬
tion of enemies and accidental fires, &c. those d panick fears,
which oftendrive men out of their wits, bereave them ofsense,
understanding, and all, some for a time, some for their whole
lives ; they never recover it. The e Midiani'tes were ;so -af¬
frighted by Gidebps sonldiers, they breaking but every one a
pitcher; and fHanniba!s army, by such a paniek fear. Was dis¬
comfited at the walls of Rome. Augusta Livia, hearing a feiy
tragical verses recited out of Virgil, ( Tu MarceEus eris, tf-e.)
fell down dead in a swoon. E din us, king of Donnmrk,by a
sudden sound which he heard, "was turmdirvtofury, with all
Ms men ( Cranzius , 1. 5. Dan. hist* et AtexWtd&r Wb &lexitn-
dro,l. 3. c.5.) Amatus Lusitanus had a patient, that, by rea¬
son of bad tidings, became epilepticus ( cen . 2. cura 90). Car¬
dan (subtil. 1. 18) saw one that lost his Wits by mistaking of
aSnbitus occursns. inopiuata lectio. *>Idb. d_e auditione. c Tbeod.Pro-
dromoSj lib. 7. Amorum. ' d Effnso cernens fugiestes figurine turmas, Qtiisraea
nanc inflat cornua ? Fautras ait Alciat. embl. 122. eJud. 6. 19.. fPlater.
chtiSj vita ejus. g In furorem cum sociis versus.
Mem. 4. Subs. 3.] Terrours and Affrights , Causes. 221
an echo. If one sense alone can cause such violent commo¬
tions of the mind, what may we think, when hearing, sight, and
those other senses, are all troubled at once, as by some earth¬
quakes, thunder, lightning, tempests, &c. } At Bologne in
Italy, anno 1504, there was such a fearful earthquake about
eleven a clock in the night, (as a Beroaldus in his book de terras
motu , hath commended to posterity) that all the city trembled,
the people thought the world was at an end, actum de morta-
libus ; such a fearful noise it made, such a detestable smell, the
inhabitants were infinitely affrighted, and some ran mad. Audi
rem atrocem, et annalibus memorandam (mine author adds) :
hear a strange story and worthy to be chronicled : I had a
servant at the same time, called Fulco Argelanus, a bold and
proper man, so grievously terrified with it, b that he was first
melancholy, after doted, at last mad, and made away himself.
At c Fuscinum in Japona , there was such an earthquake and
darkness on a sudden, that many men were offended with head-
ach, many overwhelmed with sorrow and melancholy. AtMea-
cum, whole streets and goodly palaces were overturned at the
same time ; and there was such an hideous noise withal, like
thunder, and filthy smell , that their hair stared for fear, and
their hearts quaked ; men and beasts were incredibly terrified.
In Sacai, another city, the same earthquake was so terrible
unto them , that many were bereft of their senses ; and others, by
that, horrible spectacle, so ynuch amazed, that they knew not
what they did. Blasius, a Christian, the reporter of the news,
was so affrighted for his part, that, though it were two moneths
after, he was scarce his own man, neither could he drive the
remembrance of it out of his mind. Many times, some years
foiiowingthey will tremble afresh atthe d remembrance or con¬
ceit of such a terrible object; even all their lives long, if men¬
tion be made of it. Cornelius Agrippa relates (out of Gulielmus
Parisiensis) a story of one, that, after a distasteful purge which a
physician had prescribed unto him, .was so much moved, e that
at the very sight of phy sick, he would be distempered : though
he never so much as smelled to it, the box of physicklong after
would give him a purge ; nay the very remembrance of it did
a Subitaneus terra# motus . b Ceepit inde desipere cam dispendio sanitatis, inde
adeo dementans, utsibi ipsi mortem inferret. b Historica relatiode rebus japonicis,
tract. 2. de iegat. regis Chinensis,- a LodoVico Frois Jesuita, A. .1536. Fuscibi dere-
pente tanta aens caligo et terrse motus, ut multi eapite dolerent, plurimis cor mcerore et
melancholia obrueretur. Tantuin fremitum edeb'at, ut tonitru tragorem imitairi Vidare-
tur, tantamque, &c. In mbe Sacai tam horrificus fuit, ut homines vix sui compotes
essent, a sensibus abalienati, mcerore oppressi tarn horrendo spcctaculo, &c. d Qnum
subit illius tristissiina noctis imago. ' e Qui solo aspectd medicic® movebatur a'd
purgandum. - " • " ; : ‘
222 ' Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. See. 2.
effect it; Hike travellers andseamen, (saith Plutarch) that when
they have been sanded , or dashed on a rock, for ever after fear
not that mischance only, but all such dangers whatsoever.
SUBSECT. IV.
Scoffs, Calumnies, bitter Jests, how they cause Melancholy „
It is an old saying, b a blow with a word strikes deeper
than a blow with a sword : and many men are as much gauied
with a calumny, c a scurril and bitter jest, a libel, a pasquil, sa-
tyre, apologe, epigram, stage-play es, or the like, as with any
misfortune whatsoever. Princes and potentates, thatare other¬
wise happy, and have all at command, secure and free, quit us
potentia scelerisimpunitatem fecit, are grievously vexed with
these pasquellingjibells and satyrs : they fear a railing dAretine,
more than an enemy in the field : which made most princes of
his time (as some relate) allow him a liberal pension, that he
should not tax them in his satyrs. The gods had their Momus,
Homer his Zo'ilus, Achilles his Thersites, Philip his Demades :
the Cassars themselves in Rome were commonly taunted.
There was never wanting a Petronius, a Lucian, in those times;
nor will be a Rabelais, an Euphormio, a Boccalinus; in ours.
Adrian the sixth, pope, e was so highly offended and grievously
vexed with pasquils at Rome, he gave command that statue
should be demolished and burned, the ashes flung into the
river Tiber, and had done it forthwith, had not Ludovicus Sues-
sanus, afaeete companion, disswaded him to the contrary, by
telling him that Pasquils ashes would turn to frogs in the bot¬
tom of the river, and croak worse and lowder than before.
Genus irritabile vatum ; and therefore f Socrates (in Plato) ad-
viseth all his friends, that respect their credits , to stand in awe
of poets, for they are terrible fellows, can praise and dispraise,,
as they see cause.
Hinc, quam sit calamus ssevior ense, patet.
The prophet David complains, (Psal. 123. 4) that his soul
was full of the mocking of the wealthy, and of the despiteful -
ness of the proud ; awe? (Psal. 55. 4.) for the voice of the wicked,
a Sicnt viatores, si ad saxum impegerint, ant nautae, memores sui casus, nonista mo-
do quss offendunt, sed et simiiia, horrent perpetuo et tremunt. bLeviter -volant,
graviter vulnerant. Bernardus. c Ensis sauciat corpus, mentem sermo. d Sciatis
eum esse qni a nemine fere sevi sni magnate non illnstre stipendium habnit, ne mores
ipsorum satyris snis notaret Gasp. Barthins, praefat. parnodid. e Jovins, in vita
ejus. Gravissime tulit famosis libellis i nomen suum ad Pasqnilli statuam fnisselacera-
tum ; decrevitque ideo statnam demoliri, &c. { Plato, lib. 13. de legibns. Qni
existimationem cnrant,'poetas rereantur, qnia magnam vmj habent ad laudandum et
Yituperandum,
Mem. 4. Subs. 4.] Scoffs , Calumnies, bitter Jests , Sj-c. 223
See. and their hate, his heart trembled within him , and the
terrors of death came upon him : fear and horrible fear, &-c.
(and Psal. 69. 20.) Rebuke hath broken my heart ; and I am
full of heaviness. Who hath not like cause to complain, and
is not so troubled, that shall fall into the mouths of such men?
for many are of so apetulant a spleen, and have that figure sar-
casmus so often in their mouths, so bitter, so foolish, (as
b Balthasar Castilio notes of them) that they cannot speak , but
they must bite ; they had rather lose a friend than a jest : and
what company soever they come in, they will be scoffing’, in¬
sulting over their inferiours, especially over such as any way
depend upon them, humoring, misusing, or putting galleries
on some or other, till they have made, by their humoring or
gulling, c ex stulto insanum, a mope or a noddy, and all to make
themselves merry :
- - — - d dutnmodo risum
Excutiat sibi, non hie cuiquam parcit amico :
friends, neuters, enemies, all are as one; to make a fool a mad¬
man, is their sport ; and they have no greater felicity than to
scoff and deride others; they must sacrifice to the god of laugh¬
ter (with them in e Apuleius) once a day, or else they shall
be melancholy themselves : they care not how they grinde
and misuse others, so they may exhilarate their own persons.
Their wits indeed serve them to that sole purpose, to make
sport, to break a scurrile jest; which is levissimus ingenii
frucius, the froth of wit (as fTully holds) ; and for this they
are often applauded. In all other discourse, dry, barren, stra¬
mineous, dull and heavy, here lyes their genius ; in this they
alone excell, please themselves and others. Leo Decimus, that
scoffing pope, (as Jovius hath registered in the fourth book of
his life) took an extraordinary delight in humouring of silly fel¬
lows, and to put gulleries upon them ; g by commanding some,
perswading others to do this or that, he made ex stolidis stul-
tissimos et maxime ridiculos, ex stultis insanos — soft fellows,
stark noddies ; and such as were foolish, quite mad — before he
left them. One memorable example he recites there, of Ta-
raseomus of Parma, a musician, that was so humoured by Leo
Decimus, and .Bibiena his second in this business, that he
thought himself to be a man of most excellent skill, (who was
indeed a ninny) ; they hmade him set foolish songs, and in-
a Petulant! splene caehinno. b Curial. lib. 2. Ea quorumdam est inscitia, ut,
quoties loqui, toties mordere licere sibi patent. cTer. Eunuch. <1 Hot.
Ser. 1. 2. Sat. 4. e Lib. 2. f De orat. s Laudando, et mira iis per-
snadendo. h Et vana inflates opinions, incredibilia ac ridenda quEedam musices
prsecepta commentareter, &c.
224
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
vent new ridiculous precepts, which they did highly commend, os
to tye his arm that played on the lute, to make him strike a
sweeter stroke, a and to pull down the Arras hangings, because
the voice would he clearer, by reason of the reverberation
of the wall. In the li ke manner they perswaded one Barabal-
lius of Caieta, that he was as good a poet as Petrarch ; would
have him to be made a laureat poet, and invite all his friends to
his instalment; and had so possessed the poor man with a con¬
ceit of his excellent poetry, that, when some of his more dis¬
creet friends told him of bis folly, he was very angry with them,
and sai db they envyedhis honour and prosperity . It was strange
(saith Jovius) to see an old man, of sixty years, a venerable and
grave old man, so gulled. Bui what cannot sueh scoffers do,
especially if they find a soft creature, on whom they may work ?
Nay, to say truth, who is so wise, or so discreet, that may not be
humoured in this case, especially if some excellent wits shall
set upon him ? He that mads others, if he were so humoured,
would be as mad himself, as much grieved and tormented ; he
might cry with them in the comedy, Proh Jupiter ! tu homo me
adigis ad insaniam : for all is in these things as they are taken :
if he be a silly soul, and do not perceive it, ’tis well ; he may
happily make others sport, and be , no whit troubled himself :
but if he be apprehensive of his folly, and take it to heart, then
it torments him worse than any lash. A bitter jest, a slander, a
calumny, pierceth deeper than any loss, danger, bodily pain, or
injury whatsoever ; leviter enim volat,(os Bernard, of an arrow)
sed graviter vulnergt ; especially if it shall proceed from a
virulent tongue, it cuts (saith David) like g two-edged sword.
They shoot bitter words as arrows (Psai. 64. 3 f and they smote
with their tongues (Jer. 18, 18), and that so hard that they
leave an incurable wound behind them. Many men are un-
done by this means, moped, and so dejected, that they are never
to be recovered : and, of all other men living, those which are
actually melancholy, or inclined to it, are most sensible, (as
being suspicious, eholerick, apt to mistake) and impatient of an
injury in that kind; they aggravate, and so nreditate continu¬
ally of it, that it is a perpetual corrosive, not to be removed,
till time wear it out. Although they, peradventure, that so
scoff, do it alone in mirth and merriment, -and hold it optimum
aliena frui insania, an excellent thing to enjoy another mans
madness ; yet they must know that it is a mortal sin (as
c Thomas holds), and (as the prophet d David denounceth)
they that use it shall never dwell in Gods tabernacle.
alUt voces, Budis parietibns illis®, snavius ac acntius. resilirent. V Jnjniortaljtati
et glorias .so®. prorsiis imddentes. % 2dm anasst 75..Imso mortalepeccaisin.-
iPsal.15.3.
Mein. 4. Subs. 4.] Scoffs , Calumnies , hitter Jests, Sj-c. 225
Such scurrilejests, flouts, and sarcasms, therefore,ougbt not
at all to be used, especially to our betters, to those that are in
misery, or any way distressed : for, to such, cerumnarumincre-
mentasunt, they multiply grief; and (as ahe perceived) in muitis
pudor,in muitis iraciindia, 6fC. many are ashamed,many vexed,
angred; and there is no greater cause or furtherer of melan choly.
Martin Cromerus, in the sixth book of his history, hath a pretty -
story to this purpose, of Vladislaus the Second, king of Poland,
and Peter Dunnius, earl of Shrine; they had been hunting late,
and were enforced to lodge in a poor cottage. When they went
to bed, Vladislaus told the earl in jest, that his wife lay softer
with the abbot of Shrine : he not able to contain, reply ed, ^t
tua cum Dabesso , and yours with Babessus, a gallant young
gentleman in the court whom Christina the queen loved.
Tetigit id dictum prmcipis animum; these words of his so galled
the prince, that he was long after tristis et cogitabundus , very
sad and melancholy formanymonetbs: but they were the earls
utter undoing; for when Christina heard of it, she persecuted
him to death. Sophia the empress, Justinians wife, broke a
hitter jest upon Narses the eunuch, (a famous captain, then dis¬
quieted for an overthrow which he lately had) that he was fitter
for ,a distaff, and keep women company, than to wield a sword,
or to be general of an army : but it cost her dear; for he so far
distasted it, that he went forthwith to the adverse part, much
troubled in his thoughts, caused the Lombards to rebel!, and
thence procured many miseries to the common-wealth. Tibe¬
rius the emperour withheld adegacy from the people of Rome,
which his predecessor Augustushad lately gi ven, and perceiving
a fellow sound a dead coarse in the ear, would needs know
wherfore he did so : the fellow replyed, that he wished the de¬
parted soul to signify to Augustus, the eoimnons of Rome were
yet unpaid : Tor this hitter jest the emperour caused him forth¬
with to be slain, and carry th e mews himself. Forthis reason,
all those that otherwise approve jests in some cases, andfacete
companions, (as who dothnot?) let them laugh and hemeiry,
mmpantur etxlia Codro - ’tis laudable andvfity those yet will
no means admit them in their companies, that are any wayes in¬
clined to this malady ; non jocandum cum Us qui miseri sunt et
cerumnosi: no jesting with adiscontented person. ’Tis Castilios
caveat, b Jo. Pontanus, and c Galateus, and every good mans :
Play with me, but hurt me not :
_ Jest with me, but shame me not.
Comitas is a vertue betwixt rusticity andscurrility, two extreams,
as affability is betwixt flattery and contention : it must not ex-
* Balthasar Castillo, lib. 2. de aulico. b De sermone, lib. 4. cap. 3. c Fol. 55.
Galateus.
226
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. J. Sec. 2/
ceed ; but be still accompanied with that a aQ^etSuee. or inno-
cency, quce nemini nocet, omnem injuries oblationem abhorrens,
hurts no man, abhors all offer of injury. Though a man be
liable to such a jest orobloquy, have been overseen, or commit¬
ted a foul fact, yet it is no good manners or humanity, to up¬
braid, to hit him in the teeth with his offence, or to scoff at
such a one ; ’tis an old axiom, turpis inreum omnis exprobratio.
I speak not of such as generally tax vice, Barclay, Gentilis,
Erasmus, Agrippa, Fishcartus, &c. the Varronists and Lucians
of our time, satyrists, epigrammatists, comcedians, apologists,
&c. but such as jpersonate, rail, scoff, calumniate, perstringe
by name, or in presence offend :
b Ludit qui stolida procacitate.
Non est Sestius ille, sed caballus ;
’tis horse-play this ; and those jests (as he csaith) are no better
than injuries , biting jests, mordentes et aculeati ; they are poy-
soned jests, leave a sting behind them, and ought not to be
used.
d Set not thy foot to make the blind to fall,
Nor wilfully offend thy weaker brother ;
Nor wound the dead with thy tongues bitter gall ;
Neither rejoice thou in the fall of other.
If these rules could be kept, we should have much more ease
and quietness than we have, less melancholy : whereas, on the
contrary, we study to misuse each other, how to sting and gaul,
like two fighting boars, bending all our force and wit, friends,
fortunes, to crucifie e one anothers souls ; by means of which,
there is little content and charity, much virulency, hatred,
malice, and disquietness among us.
aTulIy, Tnsc. qnasst, b Mart. lib. 1. epig. 35. c Tales joci abdnjnriis
non possint discern!. Galatens, fo. 55. d Pybrac. in his Quatrains, 37. eEgo
hnjus misera fatuitate et dementia conflictor. Tull, ad Attic, lib. 11.
Mem. 4. Subs. 5.] Loss of Liberty, Servitude, Sfc.
SUBSECT. V.
Loss of Liberty , Servitude, Imprisonment , how they cause
Melancholy.
To this catalogue of causes, I may well annex loss of
liberty, servitude, or imprisonment, which to some persons
is as great a torture as any of the rest. Though they have
all things convenient, sumptuous houses to their use, fail-
walks and gardens, delicious bowers, galleries, good fare and
dyet, and all things corsespondent, yet they are not content,
because they are confined, may not come and go at their plea¬
sure ; have and do what they will, but live a aliend quadra,
at another mans table and command. As it is bin meats, so
is it in all other things, places, societies, sports; let them be
never so pleasant, commodious, wholsom, so good; yet om¬
nium rerum est saiietas, there is a loathing satiety of all things
(the children of Israel were tired with manna) : it is irksome
to them so to live, as to a bird in a cage, or a dog in his ken¬
nel ; they are weary of it. They are happy, it is true, and
have all things (to another mans judgement) that heart cair
wish, or that they themselves can desire, bona si sua norint .*
yet they lothe it, and are tired with the present. Est natur a
hominum novitatis avida ; mens nature is still desirous of
news, variety, delights; and our wandering affections are so
irregular in this kind, that they must change, though it be to
the worst. Bachelors must be married, and married men
would be bachelors ; they do not love their own wives, though
otherwise fair, wise, vertuous, and well qualified, because they
are theirs: our present estate is still the worst ; we cannot en¬
dure one course of life long (et quod modo voverat, odit), one
callinglong (essein honor e jurat, mox displicet), one place long,
c Romce Tibur amo ventosus, Tibure Romam :
that which we earnestly sought, we now contemn. Hoc quos-
dam agit ad mortem (d saitb Seneca) quod proposita scepe mu-
tando in eadem revolvuntur, et non relinquunt novitati locum.
Fastidio ccepit esse vita, et ipse mundus ; et subit Mud rapi-
dissimarum deliciarum, Quousque eadem ? this alone kills
many a man, that they are tyea to the same still ; as a horse
in a mill, a dog in awheel, they run round, without alteration
or news ; their life groweth odious, the world loathsome, and
that which crosseth their furious delights, What ? still the
same? Marcus Aurelius and Solomon, that had experience of
a Miserom est aliena vivere quadra. ' Jav. h Crambe bis cocta. — Vitae me
redde priori. c-Hop. De tranqaii. auimse,
dames of Melancholy. [Part. 1. See. 2.
all worldly delight and pleasure, confessed as much of them¬
selves : what they most desired, was tedious at last, and that
their lust could never be satisfied ; all was vanity and affliction
of mind.
Now, if it be death it self, another hell, to be glutted with one
kind of sport, dieted with one dish, tyed to one place, though
they have all things otherwise as they can desire, and are in
heaven to another mans opinion— what misery and discontent
shall they have, that live in slavery, or in prison itself? Quod
tristius morte, in servitude vivendum, as Hernaolaus told Alex¬
ander in a- Curtins; worse than death is bondage : b hoc animo
scito mines fortes, ut mortem servituti anteponant ; all brave
men at arms (Tally holds) are so affected. c Equidem ego is
sum, qui servitutem extremum omnium malorum esse arbitror :
I am he (saith Boterus) that account servitude the extremity
of misery. And what calamity do they endure, that live with
those hard task masters, in gold-mines (like those thirty
thousand d Indian slaves at Potosa in Peru), tin-mines,
lead-mines, stone -quarries, cole-pits, like so many mould-
warps under ground, condemned to the gallies, to perpetual
drudgery, hunger, thirst, and stripes, without all hope of de¬
livery? How are those women in Turkie affected, that most
Srt of the year come not abroad ; those Italian and Spanish
Dies, that are mewed up like hawks, and Iockt up by their
jealous husbands ? how tedious is it to them that live in stoves
and caves half a year together ? as in Island?. Muscovy, or
under the epole it self, Where they have six monet&s perpetual
riight. Nay, what misery and discontent do they endure, that
are in prison ? They want all those six non-natural things at
once, good air, good dyet, exercise, company, sleep, rest, ease,
&c. that are bound in chains all day long, suffer hunger, and
(as f Lucian describes it ) must abide that filthy stink, andr ai¬
ling of chains, howling, pitiful out-eryes, that prisoners usu¬
ally make: these things ate not only troublesome, but intole¬
rable. They lye nastily among toads and frogs in a dark dun¬
geon, in their own dung, in pain of body, in pain of soul, as
Joseph did (Psal. 105. 18, They hurt his feet in the stocks ;
the iron entred his soul): they live solitarily, alone, seques-
tred from all company but heart-eating melancholy : and, for
want of meat, must eat that bread of affliction, prey upon
themselves. Well might s Arcnlanus put long imprisonment
for a cause, especially to such as, having lived jovially in all
sensuality and lust, upon a sudden are estranged and debarred
aItfb. 8. _ h Tullius Lepido, Earn. 10. 27. c Boterus, 1.' 1 . polit. cap. 4.
d Laet. descrip. America. e If there be any inhabitants. f In Toxari.
Interdin quidem coilom vinctum est, et manus constricta ; noctu vero totum corpus
vincitor : -ad has miserias accedit corporis fetor, -strepitns ejolantium, somni brevitas :
hare omnia plane molesta et intolerabilia. - In 9 Rhasis,
229
Mem. 4. Subs. 6.] Poverty and Want, Cause.
from all manner of pleasures; as were Hunniades, Edward
and Richard the Second, Valerian the emperour, Bajazet the
Turk. If it be irksome to miss our ordinary companions and
repast for once a day, or an hour, what shall it be to lose
them for ever ? If it be so great a delight to live at liberty, and
to enjoy that variety of objects the world affords,. what misery
and discontent must it needs bring to him, that shall be now
cast headlong into that Spanish inquisition, to fall from hea¬
ven to hell, to be cubbed up upon a sudden? how shall he be
perplexed % what shall become of him ? a Robert, duke of Nor¬
mandy, being imprisoned by his youngest brother Henry the
First, ab iilo die inconsolabili dolore in carcere contabuit
(saith Matthew Paris), from that day forward pined away with
grief. b Jugurth, that generous captain, brought to Rome in
triumph, and after imprisoned , through anguish of Ms soul,
and melancholy , dyed. c Roger, bishop of Salisbury, the se¬
cond man from king Stephen, (he that built that famous cas¬
tle of d Devises in Wiltshire) was so tortured in prison with
hunger, and all those calamities accompanying such men,
e ut vivere noluerit, mori nescierit, he would not live, and
could not dye, betwixt fear of death and torments of life.
Francis, king of France, was taken prisoner by Charles the
Fifth, ad mortem fere melancholicus, saith Guicciardine, me¬
lancholy almost to death, and that in an instant. But this is
as clear as the sun, and needs no further illustration.
SUBSECT. VI.
Poverty and Want, Causes of Melancholy.
Poverty and want are so violent oppugners, so un¬
welcome guests, so much abhorred of all men, that I may
not omit to speak of them apart. Poverty, although (if con¬
sidered aright, to a wise, understanding, truly regenerate, and
contented man) it be donum Dei, a blessed estate, the Way to
heaven (as f Chrysostome calls it), Gods gift, the mother of
modesty, and much to be preferred before riches (as shall be
shewed in his g place), yet, as it is esteemed in the worlds cen¬
sure, it is a most odious calling, vile and base, a severe torture,
summum scelus , a most intolerable burthen. We h shun it all,
a William tKe Conquerors eldest son. b Sallust Romam triumpho ductus,
tandemqiie in carcerem conjectus, animi dolore periit c Camden, in Wiltsh.
‘Miserum senem ita fame et calamitatibus in carcere fregit, inter mortis metum et vitae
lormenta, &c. d Vies hodie. « Seneca. fCom. ad Hebraeos.
sPart'2.'se"ct. 3. memb. 3. h Quern, ut difficilem morbutn, pueris tradere formi-
damus. Plat.
230 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
cane pejus etangue : we abhor the name of it,
(a Paupertas fugitur : totoque arcessitur orbe- • • • )
as being the fountain of all other miseries, cares, woes, labours
and grievances whatsoever. To avoid which, we will take any
pains ;
( - extremos currit mercator ad IndjDs)
we will leave no haven, no coast, no creek of the world, un¬
searched, though it be to the hazard of our lives ; we will dive
to the bottom of the sea, and to the bowels of the earth, b five,
six, seven, eight, nine hundred fathom deep, through all the
five zones, and both extreams of heat and cold : we will turn
parasites and slaves, prostitute our selves, swear and lye, damn
our bodies and souls, /orsake God, abjure religion, steal, rob,
murder, rather than endure this unsufferable yoke of poverty,
which doth so tyrannize, crucifie, and generally depress us.
For; look into the world, and you shall see men, most part,
esteemed according to their means, and happy as they are
rich : c ubique tanti quisque, quantum habuit , fuit. If he be
likely to thrive, and in the way of preferment, who but he ?
In the vulgar opinion, if a man be wealthy, no matter how he
gets it, of what parentage, how qualified, how vertuously en¬
dowed, or villauously inclined ; let him be a bawd, a gripe,
an usurer, a villain, a pagan, a barbarian, a wretch, d Lucians
tyrant on whom you may look with less security , than on the
sun — so that he be rich (and liberal withall) he shall be ho¬
noured, admired, adored, reverenced, and highly c magnified.
The rich is had in reputation, because of his goods ( Eccles .
10. 31): he shall be befriended ; for riches gather many
friends (Prov. 19. 4 ;)- - multos numerabit amicos ; ail
happiness ebbs and flows with his money. He shall be ac¬
counted a gracious lord, a Maecenas, a benefactor, a wise,
discreet, a proper, a valiant , a fortunate man, of a generous
spirit, piillus Jovis, et gallince filius alhce, a hopeful, a good
man, a vertuous honest man. Quando ego te Junonium
puerum, et matris partum vere aureum, as sTully said of
Octavianus, while he was adopted Csesar, and an h heir appa-,
rent of so great a monarchy; he was a golden child. All
1 honour, offices, applause, grand titles, and turgent epithets,
are put upon him ; omnes omnia bona dicer e ; all mens eyes
a Lucan. 1.1. b As in the silver mines in Friburgh in Germany. Fines Mo-
rison. c Euripides. a Tom. 4. dial. Minore pericnlo solem qnam
huric defixis oculis licet intueri. e Omnis enim res, Virtus, fama3 decus, divina
humanaque, pulckris Divitiis parent Hor. Ser. 1. 2. Sat 3- Claras erit, fords, Justus,
sapiens etiam rex, Et qnidqaid volet Hor. _ f Et genus, et formam, regipa.
Pecnnia donat. Money adds spirits, courage, &c. gEpist. ult. ad
Atticum. h Our young master, a fine towardly gentleman, (God bless him !)
and hopeful. Why ? he is heir apparent to the right worsinpfol, to the right honourable,
&tc, ' O nummi, nammi ! vobis hunc prsestat honorem. _ _
Mem. 4. Subs. G.] Poverty and Want, Causes.
231
are upon liim, “ God bless his good Worship ! his honour!”
Every man speaks well of him ; every man presents him, seeks
and sues to him for his love, favour, and protection, to serve
him, belong unto him ; every man riseth to him, as to Themis-
tocles in the Oiympicks; if he speak, (as of Herod) vox Dei,
non kominis ! the. voice of God, not of man ! All the graces,
'Veneres, pleasures, elegances attend him: b golden Fortune
accompanies and lodgeth with him, and (as to those Roman
emperours) is placed in his chamber.
— - c Secura naviget aura,
, ... Fortunamque suo temperet arbitrio;
he may sail as he will himself, and temper his estate at his
pleasure: jovial days, splendor and magnificence, sweet mu,
sick, dainty fare, the good things anti fat of the land, fine
clothes, rich attires, soft beds, down pillows, are at his com¬
mand ; all the world labours for him ; thousands of artificers
are his slaves, to drudge for him, run, ride, and post for him :
d divines (for PytJiia pMlippizat), lawyers, physicians, philo¬
sophers, scholars, are his, wholly devote to his service. Every
man seeks his acquaintance, his kindred, to match with him :
Hhough lie be an aufe, a ninny, a monster, agoos-cap, uxorem
ducat Danaen , when and whom lie will : Tmnc optant generum
rex et regina — he is an excellent f match for my son, my
daughter, my niece, &c. Quidcpiid calcaverit Me, rosa Jiet ;
let him go whither he will, trumpets sound, bells ring, &c. all
happiness attends him ; every man is willing to entertain him ;
he sups in * Apollo wheresoever he comes : what preparation
is made for his h entertainment! fish and fowl, spices and per¬
fumes, all that sea and land affords. What cookery, masking,
mirth, to exhilarate his person !
EDaTrebio; pone ad Trebium ; vis, frater, ab illis - >
Iiibus ? — - - •
What dish will your good worship eat of ?
• - - -k dulcia poma,
Et quoscunque feret cultus tibi fundus honores,
Ante Larem gustet venerabilior Lare dives.
Sweet apples, and whate’re thy fields afford,
Before the Gods be serv’d, let serve thy Lord.
a Exinde sapere eum omnes dicimus, ac quisque fortunam habet. Plant. Pseud.
51 Aurea For tuna principum cubiculis reponi solita. Julias Capitolinus, vita Antonini.
cPetronius. dTbeologi opulentis adharent, jurisperiti pecuniosis, literati
nummosis, liberalibus artifices. e Multi ilium juvenes, mult® petiere puellae.
fDummodb sit dives, barbarns file placet. g Piut. in Lucullo. A rich cham¬
ber so called. kPanis pane melioV. « Juv. Sat. 5. k Hor. Sat. 5
lib. 2.
VOL. I. A A
232
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
What sport will your honour have ? hawking-, hunting, fish¬
ing, fowling, bulls, bears, cards, dice, cocks, players, turn- '
biers, fidlers, jesters, &c. they are at your good worships com¬
mand. Fair houses, gardens, orchards, terrasses, galleries, cabi¬
nets, pleasant walks, deligbtsom places, they are at hand ; *in
aureis lac, vinum in argenteis, adolescentulce ad nutum speci-
osce, wine, wenches, &c. a Turkie paradise, an heaven upon
earth. Though he be a silly soft fellow, and scarce have
common sense, yet if he be born to fortunes, (as I have said)
bjure haereditario sapere jubetur, he must have honour and
office in his course ; c nemo, nisi dives, honore dignus (Ambros.
offic. 21) ; none so worthy as himself: he shall have it; atque
esto quidquid Servius aut Labeo. Get money enough, and com¬
mand d kingdoms, provinces, armies, hearts, hands, and affec¬
tions ; thou shalt have popes, patriarks, to be thy chaplains and
parasites ; thou shalt have (Tamberlain-like) kings to draw thy
coach, queens to be thy landresses, emperours thy foot-stools,
build more towns and cities than great Alexander, Babel
towers, pyramids, and Mausolean tombs, &c. command heaven
and earth, and tell the world it is thy vassal ; awro emitur
diadema, argento caelum panditur , denarius philosophum con-
ducit, nummus jus cogit, obolus liter atum pascit, metallum sa-
nitatem conciliat, ces amieos conglutinat. And therefore, not
without good cause, John Medices, that Rich Florentine, when
he lay upon his death-bed, calling his sons Cosmos and Lau¬
rence before him, amongst other sober sayings, repeated this,
Animo quieto digredior, quod vos sanos et divite's post me re-
linquam; it doth me good to think yet, though 1 be dying,
that I shall leave you, my children, sound and rich; for
Wealth sways all. It is not with us, as amongst those Lace¬
daemonian senators of Lycurgus in Plutarch — -he preferred,
that deserved best , was most vertuous and worthy of the place ;
e not swiftness, or strength , or -■ Wealth, or friends, carry ed it
in those dayes ; bat inter opiimos optimus , inter temperantes
temper antissimus, the most temperate and best. We have. no
aristocracies but in contemplation, all oligarchies , wherein a
few rich men domineer, do what they list, and are privi¬
leged by their greatness. f They may freely trespass, and do
as they please ; no man dare accuse them, no not so much as
mutter against them; there is no notice taken of it ; they may
securely do it, live after their own laws, and, for their mo-
aBohemus, de Tnrcis ; et Bredenbach. &Euphormi6. cQiiipectimEm
habent, elati sunt animis, lofty spirits, brave men at arms : all rich men are generous,
eouragions, &g. d Nummus ait. Pro me nnbat Cornnbia Romae. <KNon fait
apud mortales nllum excelleotius certamen ; non inter celeres eelerrimo, non inter ro-
bnstos robustissimo, &c. f Quidquid libet licet
Mem. 4. Subs. 6 ] Poverty and Want , Causes . 235
ney, get pardons, indulgences, redeem their souls from pur¬
gatory and bell it self, — clausum possidet area Jovem. Let
them be Epicures, or atheists, libertines, Machiavelians, (as
often they are)
1 Et quamvis perjurus erit, sine gente, cruentus,
they may go to heaven through the eye of a needle ; if they
will themselves, they may be canonized for saints, they shall
be b honourably interred in Mausolean tombs, commended by
poets, registered in histories, have temples and statues erected
to their names - e manibus illis nascentur violce.- - If he
be bountiful in his life, and liberal at his death, he shall have
one to swear (as he did by Claudius emperour in Tacitus), be
saw, his soul go to the heaven, and be miserably lamented at
his funeral. Ambubaiarum collegia, Sf-c. Trimalchionis To-
panta, ip Petronius , recta in ecelum abiit, went right to hear
ven; (a base quean ; c thou wouldst have scorned once in thy
misery to have a penny from her ) and why ? modo nummos
metiit, she measured her money by the bushel. These prero¬
gatives do not usually belong to rich men, but to such as are
most part seeming rich ; let him have but a good d outside,
he carries it, and shall be adored, for a God, as e Cyrus was
amongst the Persians, ob splendidum appafatum^foY his gay
tyres. Now most men are esteemed according to their cloaths :
in our gullish times, whom you peradventure in modesty
would give place to, as being deceived by his habit, and pre-t
suming him some great worshipful man, believe it, if you shall ,
examine his estate, lie will likely be proved a serving man of
no great note, my ladies taylor, his lordships barber, or some
such gull, a Fastidius Brisk, Sir Petronell Flash, a meer out¬
side. Only this respect is given him, that wheresoever he
comes, he may call for what he will, and take place by reason
of his outward habit.
But, on the contrary, if he be poor, (Prov. 15. 15 ) all his
dayes are miserable; be is under hatches,. dejected, rejected,
ana forsaken, poor in purse, poof in spirit: Sprout res nobis
fluit, ita et animus se habet : s money gives life and soul.
Though he be honest, wise, learned, well deserving, noble by
birth, ^nd of excellent good parts; yet, in that he is poor, un¬
likely to rise, come to honour, office, or good means, he is con¬
temned, neglected ; frustrd sapit, inter liter as esurity amicus
aBor. Sat. 5. lib. 2. b Cuin moritur dives, cpncnmmt undique cives : Pauperis
• ad funis Vii est ex milUbus unus. _ cEt modq quid fuit ? ignoscatmihi genius tuns !
noMsses.de manu eju& niupuios accipere, <HJe that wears silk, sattin, velvet, and
gold lace,' must needs be a gentleman. e Est sanguis atque spiritus peeunia tnor-
talibus. ■’Euripides. £ Xenophon, Cvropaed. 1. 8.
A A 2
234
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. See. t.
molestus. a If he speak, what babler is this ? (Ecclus.) his
nobility without wealth is b projecta vilior alga , and he not
esteemed.
Nos viles pulli, nati infelicibus ovis ;
if once poor, we are metamorphosed in an instant, base slaves,
villains, and vile drudges ; cfor to be poor, is to be a knave, a
fool, a wretch, a wicked, an odious fellow, a common eye-sore :
say poor, and say all : they are born to labour, to misery, to
carry burdenslikejuments,pisttm stercuscomedere, with Ulys¬
ses companions, and (as Chremylus objected in Aristophanes)
d salern lingere, lick salt, to empty jakes, fay channels, e carry
out dirt and dunghils, sweep chimnies, rub horse-heels, &c. I
saynothing of Turks galley-slaves, which are bought fand sold
like juments, or those African negroes, or poors Indian drudges,
qui indies hincinde defer endis oneribus occumbunt ; nam quod
apud nos boves et asini vehunt, trahunt, SfQ. id omne misellis
Indis, Sfc. they are ugly to behold, and, though earst spruce,
now rusty and squalid, because poor : h immundas fortunas,
cequum est squaldrem sequi : it is ordinarily so. 1 Others eat to
live, but they live to drudge ? k servilis et miser a gens nihil
recusare audet : a servile generation, that dare refuse no task.
■ - — . - __j Heus tu, Dore,
Cape hoc flabellum, ventulum huic facito, dum lavamus,
sirrah, blow wind upon us while we wash ; and bid your fellow
get him up betimes in the morning ; be it fair or foul, he shall
run fifty miles a foot to morrow, to carry me a letter to my
mistress : Sesia adpistrinam ; Sosia shall tarry at home, ana
grind mault all daylong ; Tristan thresh. Thus are they com¬
manded, being indeed, some of them, as so many foot-stools
for rich men to tread on, blocks for them to get on horse
back, or as m walls for them to piss on. They are commonly
such people, rude, silly, superstitious ideots, nasty, unclean,
lowsie, poor, dejected, slavishly humble ; and as n Leo Afer
observes of the commonalty of Africk, naturd viliores sunt,
nec apud suos duces majore in pretio quam si canes essent:
base by nature, and no more esteemed than dogs, ° miser am,
laboriosam, calamitosam vitam agunt, et inopem, infelicem;
aIn tenui rara est facundia panno. JW. bHor. cEgere est offendere;
et indigere scelestum esse. Sat. Menip. d Plaut. act. 4. eNnllum tam bar-
barum, tam vile menus est, quod non lubentissime obire velit gensvilissima. fLau-
sius, orat. in Hispaniam. e Laet. descrip. Americas. h Plautus. »Leo
Afer, ca. ult. 1. 1. Edunt, non ut bene vivant, sed ut fortiter laborent. Heinsius.
k Munster de rusticis Germani®, Cosmog. cap. 27. lib. 3. 1 Ter. Eunuch.
“Pauper paries factus, quem canicul® commingant. r* Lib. 1. cap. n’t, °Deos
omnes illis infensos diceres ; tam pannosi, fame fracti, tot assidue malis afiSciuntur,
tamquam pecora quibus splendor rationis emortuus.
235
Mem. 4. Subs, 6.] Poverty and Want , Causes.
rudiores asinis, ut e brutis plane natos diem ; no learning-,
no knowledge, no civility; scarce common sense, nought but
barbarism amongst them ; belluino more vivunt , neque calceos
gestant, neque vestes ; like rogues and vagabonds, they go
bare-footed and bare-legged, the souls of -their feet being as
hard as horse hoofs, (as a Radzivilius observed at Damiata in
Egypt) leading a laborious, miserable, wretched, unhappy
life, b like beasts andjuments,if not worse (for a c Spaniard in
lucatan sold three Indian boyes for a cheese, and an hundred
negroe slaves for an horse) : their discourse is scurrility, their
sumnmm bonum a pot of ale. There is not any slavery which
these villains will not undergo : inter illos plerique latrinas
evacuant ; alii culinariam cur ant ; alii stabularios agunt,
urinatores ; et id genus similia exercent, fyc. like those people
thatdwell in the d Alps, chimney-sweepers, jakes-farmers, dirt-
daubers, vagrant rogues, they labour hard some, and yet can¬
not get clothes to put on, or bread to eat ; for what can filthy
poverty give else, but ebeggery, fulsom nastiness, squalor,
contempt, drudgery, labour, ugliness, hunger and thirst, pedi-
culorumet pulicum numerum (as f he well followed it in Aris¬
tophanes) fleas and lice ? pro pallio vestem laceram, et pro
pulvinari lapidem bene magnum ad caput , rags for his ray-
ment, and a stone for his pillow, pro cathedra, ruptas caput
urnce, he sits in a broken pitcher, or on a block, for a chair,
et malvce ramos pro panibus comedit, he drinks water, and
lives on wort leaves, pulse, like a hogg, or scraps like a dog :
ut nunc nobis vita ajficitur , quis non putabit insaniam esse ,
infelicitatemque ? (as Chremylus concludes his speech) as we
poor men live now adayes, who will not take our life to be
8 infelicity, misery, and madness ?
If they be of little better condition than those bdse,yill&ins,
hunger-starved beggars, wandring rogues,, those ordinary
slaves, and day-labouring drudges, yet they are commonly so
preyed upon by h poling officers for breaking laws, by their
tyrannizing landlords, so flead and fleeced by perpetual i ex¬
actions, that though they do drudge, fare hard, and starve
their Genius, they cannot live in some k countries ; but what
they have is instantly taken from them ; the very care they
take to live, to be drudges, to maintain their poor families,
a Peregrin. Hieros. b Nihil omnino meliorem vitam degunt, quam ferae in silvis,
' jumenta in terris. Leo Afer. <= Bartholomaens a Casa. d Ortelins, in Hel¬
vetia. Qui habitant in Caesia valle nt plurimnm latomi, in Oscella valle cultrornm
~ fabri, fumarii in Vigetia, sordidum genns hominpm, quod repurgandis caminis victrim
parat. eI write not this, any wayes to upbraid, or scoffe at, or misuse poor men,
. but rather to'condole and pity them, by expressing, &c. f Chremylus, act 4, Plut.
sPaupertas durum onus miseris mortalibus. hVexat c'ensura columhas.
* Deux ace non possunt, et six cinque solvere nolunt: Omnibus est notum quairetre
solvere totum. . ’-Scandia, Africa, Lituania.
23 6
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
their trouble and anxiety, takes away their sleep (Slrac. 31. 1);
it makes them weary of their li res: when they hare taken all
pains’,, done their utmost and honest endeavours,, if they be
cast behind by sickness, or overtaken with years, no man
pities them • hard-hearted and merciless, uncharitable as they
are they leave them so distressed, to; beg, steal, murmur, and
a rebel, or else starve. The feeling and fear of this misery
compelled those old Romans, whom Menenius Agrippa
pacified, to resist their govenqiirs — outlaws, and rebels in most
places, to take upseditioxis armes; -an dip all ages hath caused
uproars, murnxurings, seditions, rebellions, .thefts, murders,
mutinies, jarrs and contentions in every commonwealth, grudg¬
ing, repining, complaining, discontent in each private family,
because they want means to live according to their callings,
bring up their children; it breaks their hearts, they cannot
do as they would. No greater misery than for a lord to have
a knights living, a gentleman a yeomans, not to be able to live
as his birth and place requires. Poverty and want are gene¬
rally corrosive to all kinds of men,, especially do such as have
been in good and flourishing estate, are stiddenly distressed,
b nobly born, liberally brought up, and, by some disaster, and
casualty, miserably dejected. For the rest, as they have base
fortunes, so they have base minds correspondent— likebeetles,e
stercore orti, e stercore victus , in stercore delicium — as they
we.re obscurely born and bred, so they delight and live in ob¬
scenity; they are not so thoroughly touched with it.
Augustas animas angusto in pectore versant.
Yea (that which is no small cause of their torments) if once
they come to he in distress, they are forsaken of their fellows,
most part neglected, and left unto themselves ; as poor cTe-
rence in Rome was by Scipio, Laslius, and Furius, his great
and noble friends,
- - - __ — —Nihil Publius
- . Scipio profuit, nilVei Radius, nil Furius,
Tres per idem tempus qui agitabant nobiles faciilime.
Horum ille operS. ne donaum quidem habuit conduetitiam.
5Tis generally so :
Tempora si fuerint nubiia, solus eris ;
he is left cold and comfortless ;
Nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes ;
all flee from him, as from a rotten wall, now ready to fall on
a Montaigne, in his Essayes, speaks of certain Indians in France, that being asked
how they liked the conntrev, wondered how a few rich men conld keep so many poor
men in subjection, that they did not cut their throats. b Augustas animas ani-
Eioso in pectore versans. c Donates, vit ejus.
237
Mem. 4. Subs. 6.] Poverty, and Want, Causes.
their heads. Prov. 19. 4. Poverty separates them from their
* neighbours :
b Dum fortuna favet, vultura servatis, amici :
Cum cecidit, turpi vertitis ora fuga.
Whilst fortune favour’d, friends, you smil’d on me:
But, when she fled, a friend I could not see.
Which is worse yet, if he be poor, c every man contemns him,
insults over him, oppresseth him, scoffsat, aggravates his misery,
d Quum coepit quassata domus subsidere, partes
In proclinatas omne recumbit onus.
When once the tottering house begins to shrink.
Thither comes all the weight by an instinct.
Nay, they are odious to their own brethren, and dearest friends *
(Prov. 19. 7) his brethren hate him , if he be poor : e omnes
vicini oderunt, Ms neighbours hate him (Prov. 14, 20.) f omnes
me noti ac ignoti deserunt, (as he complained in the comedy)
friends and strangers, all forsake me. Which is most grievous,
poverty makes men ridiculous :
Nil habet infeiix paupertas durius in se,
Quam quod ridiculos homines facit :
they must endure s jests, taunts, flouts, blows of their betters*
and take all in good part to get a meals meat.
b Magnum pauper ies opprobrium j abet
Quidvis et facere et pati.
Hejmust turn parasite, jester, fool, (cum desipientibus desipere ,
saith 1 Euripides), slave, villain, drudge, to get a poor living,
apply himself to each mans humour, to win and please, &c. and
be buffeted when he hath all done (as Ulysses was byMelanthius
k in Homer), be reviled, baffled, insulted over, for lpotentiorum
stultitia perferenda est, and may not so much as mutter against
it. He must turn rogue and villain * for, as the saying is, neces-
sitas eogit adturpia; poverty alone makes men thieves, rebels,
murderers, traitours, assassinates, ( because of poverty, we have
sinned, Eeclus. 27. 1) swear and forswear, bear false witness,
lye, dissemble, any thing, as I say, to advantage themselves, and
to relieve their necessities : m culpce scelerisque magistra est i
when a man is driven to his shifts, what will he not do ?
— - si miserum fortuna Sinonem
Finxit, vanum etiam mendacemque improba finget : ,
^ Prov. 19. 7. Though he be. instant, yetthey will not. bPefronins. e Non
est, qni doleat vicem : ut Petrus Christum, jurant se hominem non notisse. dOvid,
inTrist. eHorat. fTer. Eunuchns, act. 2. g Quid quod materiam.
praebet caussamque jocandi. Si toga sordida sit ? Juv. Sat. 2. bHor, i in
Phoenis. k Qdyss. IT. 1 Idem. = Mantuan.
238
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
lie will betray his father, prince, and countrey, turn Turk, for¬
sake religion, abjure God and all : nulla tam horrenda jrroditio,
quam illi lucri caussa (saith a Leo Afer) perpetrare no lint.
b Plato therefore calls poverty thievish, sacrilegious, filthy,
wicked , and mischievous; and well be might ; for it makes
many an upright man otherwise (bad he not been in want) to
take bribes, to be corrupt, to do against his conscience, to sell
his tongue, heart, hand, &e. to be churlish, hard, unmerciful,
uncivil, to use indirect means to help his present estate. It
makes princes to exact upon their subjects, great men tyran¬
nize, landlords oppress, justice mercenary, lawyers vultures,
physicians harpyes, friends importunate, tradesmen Iyars, ho¬
nest men thieves, devout assassinates, great men to prostitute
their wives, daughters, and themselves, middle sort to repine,
commons to mutiny, all to grudge, murmur, aiid complain.
A great temptation to all mischief, it compels some miserable
wretches to counterfeit several diseases, to dismember, make
themselves blind, lame, to have a more plausible cause to beg,
and lose their limbs to recover their present wants. Jodocus
Damhoderius,a lawyer of Bruges, (praxi rerum criminahc. 1 12)
hath some notable examples of such counterfeit cranks ; and
every village almost will yield abundant testimonies amongst
us ; we have dummerers, Abraham men, &c. And (that
which is the extent of misery) it enforeeth them, through
anguish and wearisomness of their lives, to make away them¬
selves : they had rather be hanged, drowned, &c. than to
live without means.
c In mare cetiferum, ne te premat aspera 'egestas,
Desili, et a celsis corrue, Cyme, jugis,
* - Much' better ’tis to- -break, thy neck.
Or drown thyself i’ th’ sea,
Than suffer irksome poverty : —
Go make thy self away.
A Sybarite of old (as I find it registered in d Athenseus), sup¬
ping in Phiditiis in Sparta, and observing their hard fare, said
it was no marvel if the Lacedaemonians were valiant men ;for
his part, he would rather run upon a swords point (ana so
would any man in his wits), than live with such base diet, or
lead so wretched a life. e In Japonia, ’tis a common thing to
stifle their children if they be poor, or to.make an abort ; which
" aDe Africa, lib. 1. cap. ult. b 4. de legibus. ' Fnracissima paupertas, sacii-
lega, turpis, flagitiosa, omnium malorum opifex. e Theognis. d Dipno-
sopbist lib. 12. Millies potius moritorum (si quis sibi mehte constaret) quam tam
vilis et aerumnosi victus coramunionem habere. > Gasper Vilela Jesuits, epist*.
Japon ! lib. _ .
2S9
Mem. 4. Subs. 6.] Poverty and Want 9 Causes.
Aristotle commends. In that civil commonwealth of China,
a the mother strangles her child, if she be not able to bring it
up, and had rather lose than sell it, or have it endure such
misery as poor men do. Arnobius (lib. 7. adversus gentes ),
* Lactantius (lib. 5. cap. 9), objects as much to those ancient
Greeks and Romans : they did expose their children to wild
beasts, strangle, and knock out their brains against a stone,
in such cases. If we may give credit to c Munster, amongst
us Christians, in Lituauiathey voluntarily mancipate and sell
themselves, their wives, and children, to rich men, to avoid
hunger and beggery : d many make away themselves in this
extremity. Apicius, theRoman,whenhe cast up his accounts, .
and found, but 100000 crowns left, murdered himself, for fear
he should be famished to death. P. Forestus, in his medicinal
observations, hath a memorable example of two brothers of
Lovian, that, being destitute of means, became both melan¬
choly, and, in a discontented humour, massacred themselves ;
another of a merchant, learned, wise otherwise and discreet,
but, out of a deep apprehension he hadof a loss at seas, would
not be perswaded but (as e yentidios, in the poet) he should
die a begger. In a word, thus much I may conclude of poor
men, that, though they have good f parts, they cannot shew or
make use of them : § ab inopid ad virtutem obsepta est via ;
’tis hard for a poor man to h rise ;
Haud facile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat
Res augusta domi :
the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard
(Eccles. (5.19): his works are rejected, contemned for the base¬
ness and obscurity of the author; though laudable and good
in themselves, they will not likely take. ;
Nulla plaeere diu, neque vivere, carmina possunt,
Quse scribuntur aquse potoribus.
Poor men cannot please : their actions, counsels, consultations,
projects, are vilified in the worlds esteem : amittunt consilium
in re, which Gnatho long since observed. 5 Sapiens crepidas
sibinunquam, JVec soleas, fecit ; a wise man never cobled shoes;
as he said of old ; but how doth he prove it? I am sure we
find it otherwise in our dayesf k pruinosis horret facundia
pannis . Homer himself must beg, if he wants means, and (as
aMat. Ricc.ius, expedit. in Sinas, lib. 1. c. 3. ' b Vos Romani procreatos filios
feris et canibos esponitis, nunc strangulatis, vel in saxtim eliditis, &c. c[Cosmog.4.
lib. cap. 22. Vendunt liberos victu carentes, tamqaam pecora, interdum et seipsos,
ut apud divites saturentur cibis. d Vel bonorum desperatione vel malorum per-
pessione fracti et fatigati, plures violentas manus sibi inferunt. e Hor. f Ingenio-
poteram. snperas volitare per arces : Ut me pluraa levat, sic grave mergit opos.
s.Terent. h Juvenal. Sat 3. . ‘Hor. Sat. 3? lib. L k Petronius.
240
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
by report, sometimes he did) & go from door to door, and sing
ballads , with a company of hopes about him. This common
misery of theirs must needs distract, make them discontent
and melancholy, as ordinarily they are, wayward, pievish,like
a weary travailer, (for • . . .
b Fames et tnora bilem in nares conciurit.)
still murmuring and repining. Ob inopiam morosi sunt , qui¬
ll us est male , as Plutarch quotes out of Euripides, and that _
comical poet well seconds —
* Omnes, quibus res sunt minus secundse, nescio quomodo
Suspiciosi, ;ad contumeliam omnia accipiunt magis;
Propter suam impotentiam se credunt negligi.:
if they be in adversity, they are more suspicious, and apt to mis¬
take ; they think themselves scorned by reason of their misery ;
and therefore many generous spirits, in such cases, withdraw
themselves from all company, as that comedian d Terence is
said to have done ; when he perceived himself to be forsaken
and poor, he voluntarily banished himself to Stymphalus, a
base town in Arcadia, and there miserably died :
—ad summam inopiam redactus :
- Itaque e conspectu omnium abiit, Grmcimin terram ultimam.
Neither is it without cause ; for we see men commonly re¬
spected according to their means, y(e an dives sit , omnes qucerunt ;
nemo,an honus) &rid vilified if they be in bad clothes. f Philo-
Ecemen the orator was set to cut wood, because he was so
omely. attired. yTerentius was placed at the lower end of
Csecilius table, because of his homely outside. h Dante, that
famous Italian poet, by reason his clothes were but mean, could
not be admitted to sit down at a feast. Gnatho scorned his
old familiar friend, because of his apparel ; * hominem video
pannis annisque obsitum; Me ego ilium contempsi pree me.
King Perseus, overcome, sent a letter to k Paullus jEmilius,
the Roman general, “ Perseus P. Consuli S” but he scorned
him any answer, tacite exprobrans fortunam suam (saith mine
author), upbraiding him with a present fortune. 1 Carolus
Pugnax, that great duke of Burgundy, made H. Holland, late
duke of Exeter, exil’d, run after his horse like a lackey,- and
a Herodotus, vita ejus. Scaliger, in poet . Potentiomm aides ostiatiru adiens, ali-
quid accipiebat, canens cannina sua, concomitant® eum puerormn choro. b Plautus,
Amph. c Ter. Act. 4. Seen. 3. Adelph. Hegio. d Donat vita ejus. eEuri-
pides. f Plutarch. vita ejus. gVit. Ter. h Gomesius, lib. 3. c. 21. de sale.
Ter. Eunuch. Act. 2. Seen. 2. kJAv. dec. 9.1. 2. 5Comineus.
Mem. S. Subs. 7.] Other Accidents and Grievances. 241
would take no notice of him : a ’tis the common fashion of the
world : so that such men as are poor may justly be discontent,
melancholy, and complain of their present misery ; and all may
pray with b Solomon, Give me, O Lord, neither riches nor po¬
verty ; feed me with f bod convenient for me.
SUBSECT. VII.
An heap of other Accidents causing Melancholy, Death of
Friends, Losses, %-c. ,
In this labyrinth of accidental causes, the farther I wander,
the more intricate I find the passage ; mult os ambages.; and
new causes, as so many by-paths, offer themselves to be dis¬
cussed. To search out all, were an Herculean work, and
fitter for Theseus : 1 will follow mine intended thred, and
point only at some few of the chiefest:
Death of friends.'] amongst which, loss and death of friends
may challenge a first place. Multi tristantur (as c Yives well
observes) post delieias, convwia, dies festos ; many are melan¬
choly after a feast, holy-day, merry meeting, or some pleasing
' sport, if they be Solitary by chance, left alone -to themselves,
without employment, sport, or wanttheir ordinary companions ;
some, at the departure of friends only whom they shall shortly
see again, weep and howl, and look after them as a cow lows
after her calf, o:r a ..child takes on, that goes to school after
holidayes. Ut me dev dr at tuns adventus, sic discessus afflixit,
(which d Tully writ to Atticus) thy coming, was not so wel¬
come to me as thy departure was harsh. . Montanus ( consil .
182) makes mention of a countrey- woman, that, parting with
her friends and native place, became grievously melancholy
for many years ; and Trallanius, of another, so, caused for the
absence of her husband ; which is an ordinary passion amongst
our good wives ; if their husband tarry out a day longer than
his appointed time, or bi*eak his hour, they take on presently
with sighs and tears; “he is either robbed or dead ; some mis¬
chance or other is surely befaln him they cannot eat, drink,
sleep, or be quiet in mind, till they see him again. If parting
of friends, absence alone, can work such violent effects, what
shall death do, when they must eternally be separated, never
in this wrorld to meet again? This is so grievous a torment
for the time, that it takes away their appetite, desire of life,
a He that hath 51. per annum coming in more than others, scorns him that hath less,
and is a better man. h Prov. 30. 8. c De amnia, cap. de moerore. Lib. 12.
epist.
242
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. See. 2.
extinguished all delights, it causeth deep sighs and groans,
tears, exclamations,
(O dulce germen matris ! o sanguis meus !
Eheu ; tepentes, &c.- — - — -o flos tener !
howling, roaring, many bitter pangs,
a(Lamentis gemituque et femineo ululatu
Tecta fremunt)
and by frequent meditation extends so far sometimes, b they
think they see their dead friends continually in their eyes, oh-
ver sanies imagines, as Conciliator confessed he saw his mothers
ghost presenting herself still before him. Quod nimis miseri
volunt , hoc facile credunt; still, still, still, that good father, that
good son, that good wife, that dear friend, runs in their minds :
lotus animus hac und cogitatione defxus est, all the year long,
as c Pliny complains to Romanus, methinks I see Virginius,
I hear Virginius, I talk with Virginius, Sj-c.
dTe sine, v£e misero mihi, lilia nigra videntur,
Pallentesque, rosse, nec dulce rubens hyacinthus;
Nullos, nec myrtus, nec laurus, spirat, odores.
They that are most staid and patient, are so furiously carry ed
headlong by the passion of sorrow in this case, that brave dis¬
creet men otherwise, oftentimes forget themselves, and weep
like children many moneths together, as e if that they to water
would, and will not be comforted. They are gone ! they are
gone !
Abstulit atra dies, et funere mersit acerbo !
wliat shall I do ?
Quis dabit in 1 aery mas fontem mihi? quis satis altos
Accendet gemitus, et acerbo verba dolori ?
Exhaurit pietas oculos, et hiantia frangit
Pectora, nec plenos avido sinit edere qnestus;
Magna adeo jactura premit, &c.
Fountains of tears who gives? who lends me groans.
Deep sighs, sufficient to express my moans ?
Mine eyes are dry, my breast in pieces torn ;
. My loss so great, I cannot enough mourn.
So Stroza filius, that elegant Italian poet, in his Epicedium,
bewails his fathers death ; he could moderate his passions in
other matters (as he confesseth), but not in this ; he yields
whblly to sorrow,
Nunc, fateor, do terga malis ; mens ilia fatiscit,
Indomitus quondam vigor et cpnstantia mentis.
a Virg. 4. _43n. b patre* mortuos coram astantes, et filios, &c. Marcellus DoBatus.
cEpist. 1. % Virginium video, audio : d'efunctum cogito, alloquor. d Calphurniae
Grsecus. « Chaucer.
§43
Mem. 4. Subs. 7.} Other Accidents and Grievances.
How doth a Quintilian complain for the loss of his son, to de¬
spair almost! Cardan laments his only child, in his book de
libris propriis, and elsewhere, in many other of his tracts, hSt.
Ambrose his brothers death ! (an ego possum .non cogitare de
te, aut sine lacrymis cogitare ? O amari dies ! oflebiles nodes /)
Sj-c. Gregory Nazianzen, that noble Pulcheria ! (O decorem, Sf-c.
flos recens, pullulans, %-c.) Alexander, a man of a most in¬
vincible courage, after Hephsestions death (as Curtius relates),
triduum jacuit ad moriendum obstinatus, lay three dayes to¬
gether upon the ground, obstinate to dye with him, and would
neither eat, drink, nor sleep. The woman that communed
with Esdras (lib. 2. cap. 10), when her son fell dow n dead*
fled into the field, and would not return into the city, hut there
resolved to remain, neither to eat nor drink, but mourn and fast
until she dyed. Rachel wept for her children, and would not
be comforted, because they were not (Matt. 2. 18). So did
Adrian the emperour bewail his Antinous ; Hercules, Hylas ;
Orpheus, Eurydice ; David, Absolon (O my dear son Ab¬
solon) ; Austin, his mother Monica ; Niobe, her children, in¬
somuch, that the c poets feigned her to be turned into a stone,
as being stupified through the extremity of grief. d JEgeus,
signo lugubrifllii consterhatus , in mare se prcecipitem dedit ,
impatient of sorrow for his sons death, drowned himself.
Our late physicians are full of such examples. Montanus
(consil. 242) e had a patient troubled with this infirmity, by
reason of her husbands death, many years together:. Trinca-
vellius (/. 1. c. 14) hath such another, almost in despair, after
his f mothers departure, ut se ferma prcecipitem daret, and
ready through distraction to make away himself; and (in his
fifteenth counsel) tells a story of one fifty years of age, that
grew desperate upon his mothers death ; and, cured by Pha-
lopius, fell many years after into a relapse, by the sudden
death of a daughter w'hich he had, and could never after be
recovered. The fury of this passion is so violent sometimes,
that it daunts whole kingdoms and citiesl Vespasians death
was pittifully lamented all over the Roman empire; totus orbis
lugebat, saith Aurelius Victor. Alexander commanded the
battlements of houses to be pulled down, mules and horses to
have their manes shorn off, and many common souldiers to
be slain,- to accompany his dear Hephaestions death ; which
is now practised amongst the Tartars : when g a great Cham
dyeth, ten or twelve thousand must be slain, men and horses.
a Prssfat. lib. 6. bLib. de obitn Satyri fratris. c Oriel. Met. & Pint,
vitaejns. «NobUis matrona melancholica ob mortem mariti. - fExmatris
obita in desperationem incidit. s Mathias a Michon. Boter. Amphitheat.
244
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1 Sec. 2 .
all they meet ; and, among those a pagan Indians' their wives
and servants voluntary dye with them. Leo Decirnus was
so much bewailed in Rome after his departure, that (as Jovius
gives out f communis salis, publica Mlar it as. the common safety,
all good fellowship, peace, mirth, and plenty, died with him ;
tamquam eodem sepulcro cum Leone condita lugebantur ; for it
was a golden age whilst he lived ; cbut, after his decease, an
iron season succeeded, barbara vis, etfceda vaslitas, et dirct
malorum omnium incommoda, wars, plagues, vastity, discontent.
When Augustus Caesar dyed, saith. Paterculus, orbis ruinam
timueramus, we were all afraid, as if heaven had fallen upon
our heads. dBudaeus records, how that, at Lewis the twelfth
his death, tam subita mutatio, ut qiiiprim digito ceeluni attin-
gere videbantur, nunc humi derepente serpere, sideratos esse
dicer es, they that were erst in heaven, upon a sudden, as if
they had been planet strucken, lay groveling on the ground;
eConcussis cecidere anitnis, ceu frondibus ingens
Sylva dolet lapsts— - —
they lookT like cropt trees.
f At Nancy in Lorain, when Claudia Talesia, Henry the
second French kings sister, and the dukes wife, deceased, the
temples for forty day es were all shut up, no prayers nor masses,
but in that room where she was ; the senators all seen in black;
and for a twelve moneths space throughout the city, they were
forbid to sing or dance.
- - — - s Non ulli pastos illis egere diebus
Frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina ; nulla nee amnem
Libavit quadrupes, nec graminis attigit herbam.
How were we affected here, in England for our Titus, delicice
humani generis ^ Prince Henries immature death, as if all our
dearest friends lives had exhaled with his! h Scanderbegs death
was not so much lamented in Epirus. In a word, as Jhe saith
of Edward the First at the news of Edward of Caernarvon
his sons birth, immortaliter gqvisus, he was immortally glad,
may we say on the contrary of friends deaths, immortaliter
gementes, we are, divers of us, as so many turtles, eternally
dejected with it.
Lo. Vertoman. M. Polus Venetus, lib. -1.- c. 54. Perimant eos quos in via ob-
vios habent, dicentes, Ite, et domino nostro regi servite in alia vita. Nec tam in ho¬
mines insaniunt, sed in equos, &c. bYit. ejas. c Lib. 4. vitae ejus. Auream
aetatem condiderat ad hnrnani generis salutem, qoum nos statim ab optirni principis
excessu vere ferream pateremor, famem, pestem.&c. d Lib. 5. de asse. e Maph.
{ Orteliiis, Itinerario. Ob annum integrom a canto, tripudiis, et saltationibus, tota ci-
vitas abstinere jubetnr. ? Virg. h See Barletius, de vita et ob. Scanderbeg.
lib. 13. hist. > Matth. Paris. -
Mem. 4. Subs. 7.] Other Accidents and Gr ievances. 24 5
There is another sorrow, which ariseth from the loss of
temporal goods and fortunes, which equally afflicteth, and.
may go hand in hand with the precedent. Loss of time, loss
of honour, office, of good, name, of labour, frustrate hopes will
much torment; but, in my judgement, there is no torment like
unto it, or that sooner procureth this malady and mischief :
a Ploratur lacrymis amissa pecunia veris :
it wrings true tears from our eyes, many sighs, much sorrow
from our hearts, and often causeth habitual melancholy it self.
Guianerius (tract. 15. 5.) repeats this for an especial cause :
Hoss of friends, and loss pf goods, make many men melancholy
(as I have often seen), by continual meditation of such things .
The same causes Arnoldus Villanovanus inculcates (Breviar.
1. H c. 18), ex rerum amissione, damno, amicorum morte, fyc.
Want alone will make a man mad; to be sans argent, will
cause a deep and grievous melancholy. Many persons are
affected like irishmen in this behalf, who, if they have a good
scimiter, had rather have a blow on their arm, than their
weapon hurt : they will sooner lose their life, than their goods :
andthe grief that cometh hence, continueth long(saith dPlater),
and, out of many dispositions, procureth an habit. e Montanus
and Frisemelica cured a young man of twenty two years of
age, that so became melancholy ob amissam pecuniam, for a
summ of money which he had unhappily lost. Sckenkius
hath such another story of one melancholy, because he over¬
shot himself, and spent his stock in unnecessary building.
f Roger, that rich bishop of Salisbury, exutus opibus et castris
a rege Stephano, spoiled of his goods by king Stephan, mi
dolor is absorptus, atque in amentiam versus, indecentia fecit ,
through grief ran mad, spake and did he knew not what.
Nothing so familiar, as for men in such cases, through anguish
of mind, to make away themselves. A- poor fellow went to
hang himself (which Ausonius hath elegantly expressed in a
" neat § epigram), but, finding by chance a pot of money, flung
away the rope, and went merrily home ; but he that hid the
gold, when he missed it, hanged himself with that rope which
the other man had left, in a discontented humour.
At qui condiderat. postquam non reperit aurum,
Aptavit collo, quern. reperit, laqueum.
a Juvenal. b Multi, qui res amatas perdiderant, ut Alios, opes, noti sperantes
recuperare, propter assiduam talium considerationem melaneholici fiunt, ut ipse vidi.
e Stanihurstus, Hib. Hist. ; d Cap. 3. Melancholia semper venit ob jactarant pe¬
cuniae, victorias repulsam, mortem Iiberorum, quibus longo post tempore animus tor-
quetur ; et a dispositions fit habitus. eConsil, 26. f bfubrigensis. f Epig. 23.
245
Causes of Melancholy. {Part. 1. Sec. 2.
Such feral accidents can want and penury produce. Be it by
suretiship, shipwrack, fire, spoil and pillage of souldiers, or
what loss soever, it boots not ; it will work the like effect, the
same desolation in provinces and cities, as well as private per¬
sons. The Romans were miserably dejected after the battel of
Cannae, the men amazed for fear, the stupid women tore their
hair and cryed; — the Hungarians, when their king Ladislaus,
and bravest souldiers, were slain by the Turks : luctuspublicus,
4rc. — the Venetians, when their forces were overcome by the
French king Lewis, the French and Spanish kings, pope,
emperour, ail conspired against them, at Cambray, the French
herald denounced open war in the senate, Lauredane, Vene-
torum dux, fc. and they had lost Padua, Brixia, Verona, Fo¬
rum Julii, their territories in the continent, and had now no¬
thing left but the city of Venice itself, et urbi quoque ipsi (saith
a Bembus) timendum putarent, and the loss of that was like¬
wise to be feared ; tantus repents dolor omnes tenuit, et nun-
quam alias, 8fc. they were pittifully plunged, never before in
such lamentable distress. Anno 1527* when Rome was sacked
by Burbonius, the common souldiers made such spoil, that
fair b churches were turned to stables, old monuments and
books made horse-litter, or burned like straw ; reliques, costly
pictures defaced ; altars demolished, rich hangings, carpets,
&c. trampled in the dirt ; c their wives and loveliest daughters
constuprated by every base million (as Sejahus daughter was
by the hangman in public) before'*their fathers and husbands
faces ; noblemens children, and of the wealthiest citizens, re¬
served for princes beds, were prostitute to every common soul-
dier, and kept for concubines ; senators and cardinals them¬
selves drag’d along the streets, and put to exquisite torments,
to confess where their money was hid ; the rest, murdered on
heaps, lay stinking in the streets ; infants brains dashed Out
before their mothers eyes. A lamentable sight it was- to see so
goodly a city so suddenly defaced, rich citzens sent a begging
to Venice, Naples, Ancona, &c. that erst lived in all manner of
delights. d Those proud palaces, that even now vaunted their
tops up to heaven, were dejected as low as hell in an instant.
Whom will not such misery make discontent ? Terence the
poet drowned himself (some say) for the loss of his comedies,
which suffered shipwrack. When a poor man hath made many
a Iiib. 8. Venet. hist. bTempla ornamentis nudata, spoliata, in stabala equoruin
et asinorum versa, &c. Infill® humi coocolcatse pedibus, &c- c In ocqlis rcari-
torum dilectissimse conjages ab Hispanorom lixis constupratse sunt. Filise magna-
tnm thoris destinate, &c. d Ita fastQ ante unum mensem turgida civitas, et
eacuminibus coelum pnlsare visa, ad inferos nsque paueis diebns dejecta.
Mem. 4. Subs. 7.] Other Accidents and Grievances. 247
hungry meals, got together a small summ, which he loseth in
an instant— a scholar spent many an hours study to no pur¬
pose, his labours^ lost, &c. — how should it otherwise be? I
may conclude, with Gregory, temporalium amor quantum afficit,
cum hcerei possessio, tantum, quum subtrahitur, urit dolor ;
riches do not so much exhilarate us with their possession, as
they torment us with their loss.
Fear from ominous accidents , destinies foretold.] Next to
sorrow still I may annex such accidents as procure fear ; for,
besides those terrors which I have abefore touched, and many
other fears (which are infinite), there is a superstitious fear,
(one of the three great causes of fear in Aristotle) commonly
caused by prodigies and dismal accidents, which much trouble
many of us, ( Nescio quid animus mihi preesagit mali,) as, if a
hare cross the way at our going forth, or a mouse gnaw our
clothes: if they bleed three drops at the nose, the salt falls
towards them, a black spot appear in their nails, &c. with
many such, which Delrio (Tom. 2. 1. 3. sect. 4), Austin Niphus
(in nis book de Auguriis ), Polydore Yirg. (1. 3. de Prodigiis),
Sarisburiensis ( Polycrat . 1. 1. c. 13), discuss at large. They
are so much affected, that, with the very strength of imagina¬
tion, fear, and the devils craft, b they pull those misfortunes
they suspect upon their own heads , and that which they fear,
shall come upon them , as Solomon foretelleth (Prov. 10.* 24),
and Isay denounceth (66, 4,) which if c they could neglect and
contemn , would not come to pass. Forum vires nostra resident
opinione , ut morbi gravitas cegrotantium cogitatione; they are
intended and remitted, as our opinion is fixed, mere or less.
N. N. dat pceiias , saith d«Crato of such a one ; utinam non
attraheret : he is punished, and is the cause of it e himself.
f Dum fata fugimus, fata stulti incurrimus ;
the thing that I feared, saith Job, is fain upon me.'
As much we may say of them that are troubled with their
fortunes, or ill destinies fore-seen;; multos angit prcescientia
malorum: the fore-knowledge of what shall come to pass, cru¬
cifies many men, fore-told by astrologers, or wizards, iratum
ob ccelum, be it ill accident, or death it self; which often falls
out by Gods permission, quia dcemonem timent, (saith Chry¬
sostom), Feus ideo permittit accidere. Severus, Adrian, Do-
mitian, can testify as much, of whose fear and suspicion,
Sueton, Herodian, and the rest of those writers, tell strange
stories in this behalf, g Montanus ( consil . 31) hath one
aSect 2. Memb. 4. Subs. 3.
vemus, nihil valent Polydor.
catch. f Geor. Bucha
inelancholicus.
VOL. I.
t> Accersunt sibi malum. c Si non ohser-
d Consil. 26. 1. 2. c Harm watch, harm
s Juvenis, solicitos de-futuris frustra, factus
B B
248
■Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
example of a young man, exceeding melancholy upon this
occasion. Such fears have still tormented mortal men in all
ages, by reason of those, lying oracles, and jugling priests.
a There was a fountain in Greece, near Ceres temple in Achaia,
where 'the event of such diseases was to be known : a glass let
down hy a thread. , fyc. Amongst those Cyanean rocks at the
springs of Lycia, was the oracle of Thrixeus Apollo, where all
fortunes were foretold, sickness, health , or what they would be¬
sides: so common people have beenal wayesdeluded with future
events. At this day, metus futurorum maxime torquet Sinas,
this foolish fear mightily crucifies them in China:, as b Mat¬
thew Riccius the Jesuit informeth us, in his Commentaries of
those countreys, of all nations they are most superstitious, and
much tormented in this kind, attributing so much to their
divinators, ut ipse metus fidemfaciat, that fear it self and con¬
ceit cause it to c fall out : if he foretell sickness such a day,
that very time they will be sick ( vi metus gjflicti in cegritudi-
nem cadunt ), ana many times dye as it is foretold. A true
saying, timor mortis morte pejor, the fear of death is worse
than death it self ; and the memory of that sad hour, to some
fortunate arid rich men, is as bitter as gaul (Eccles. 41. 1.)
Inquietam nobis vitam fac.it mortis metus : a worse plague
cannot happen to a man, than to be so troubled in his mind ;
his triste divortium, an heavy separation, to leave their goods,
with so much labour got, pleasure of the world, which they
have so deliciously enjoyed, friends and companions whom
they so dearly love, all at once. Axiochus the philosopher
was bold and couragious all his life, and gave good precepts
de contemnenda morte, and against the vanity of the world, to
others; but being now ready to dye himself, he was mightily
dejected; hac luce privabor ? his orbabor bonis? he lamented
like a child, &c. And though Socrates himself was there to
comfort him, ubi pristina viriutum jactatio, O Axioche? yet
he was very timorous and impatient of death, much troubled
in his mind: imbellis pavor et impatientia, Sf-c. O Clotho !
Megapetus the tyrant in Lucian exclaims, now ready to de¬
part, let me live a while longer . dI will give thee a thousand
talents of gold, and two boles besides, which I took from
Cleocritus, worth an hundred talents apiece. Woe’s me! esaith
another, what goodly manors shall I leave! what, fertile fields /
aPausanias in Achale. lib. 7. Ubi omnium eventns dignoscimtor. Speculnm
itenvri snspensnm funiculo demittnnt : et ad Cyaneas petras, ad Lycia; fontes, &c.
b Expedit. in Sinas, lib. 1. c. 3. c Timendo prssoccnpat, qood vitat, ultra,
provocatque qnod fugit, gandetqne mcerens, et lubens miser fuit Heinsids, Anstriac.,
d Tom. 4. dial. 8. Cataplo. Auri puri mille talenta me ho'die tibi daturmii prduiitto, &c.
* Ibidem. Hei mihi ! qnas reliqaenda praedia ! quam fertiles agri ! &c.
Mem. 4. Subs. 7.] Other Accidents and Grievances. 249
what a fine house ! what pretty children ! how many servants !
Who shall gather my grapes , my corn ? Must I notv dye, so
well settled? leave all, so richly and well provided ? Wo’s
me ! what shall I do ? a Animula vagula, hlandula , quae nunc
abibis in loca?
To these tortures of fear and sorrow, may well be annexed
curiosity, that irksome, that tyrannizing care, nimia solicitudo,
b superfluous industry about unprofitable things s and their qua¬
lities, as Thomas defines it : an itching humour or kind of
longing to see that which is not to be seen, to do that which
ought not to be done; to know that c secret, which should
not be known, to eat of the forbidden fruit. We commonly
molest and tire our selves about things unfit and unnecessary,
as Martha troubled herself to little purpose. Be it in religion,
humanity, magick, philosophy, policy, any action or study,
’tis a needless trouble, a meer torment. For what else is :
school-divinity t how many doth it puzzle 1 what fruitless
questions about the Trinity, resurrection, election, predesti¬
nation, repobration, hell-fire, &c. how many shall be saved,
damned ? What else is all superstition, but an endless ob¬
servation of idle ceremonies, traditions ? What is most of our
philosophy, but a labyrinth of opinions, idle questions, pro¬
positions, metaphysical terms? Socrates therefore held all
philosophers cavillers and mad men; circasubtilia cavillaiores
pro insanis habuit, palam eos arguens, saith d Eusebius, be¬
cause they commonly sought after these things quae necpercipi
a nobis neque comprehendi possent; or, put case they did
understand, yet they were altogether unprofitable : for what
matter is1 it for us to know how high the Pleiades are, how far
distant Perseus and Cassiopea from us, how deep the sea, &c.P
we are neither wiser, as he follows it, nor modester, nor better,
nor richer, nor stronger,, for the knowledge of it : quod supra
nos nihil ad nos. I may say the same of those genethliacal
studies, what is astrology, but vain elections, predictions ? all
magick, but a troublesome error, a pernicious foppery? phy-
sick, but intricate rules and prescriptions ? philology, but vain
criticisms ? logick, needless sophisms ? metaphysicks them¬
selves, but intricate subtilties, and fruitless abstractions ?
alcumy, but a bundle of errors ? To what end are such great
tomes ? why do we spend so many years in their studies ?
Much better to know nothing at all, as those barbarous
Indians are wholly ignorant, than, as some of us, to be so sore
vexed about unprofitable toyes ; stultus labor est ineptiarum;
* Adrian. b Tndustria snperflua circa res inutiles. c Flavae secreta
Minervae ut viderat Aglaurns. Ov. Met. 2. d Contra Philos, cap. 61.
25G
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
to build an house without pins, make a rppe of sand ; to what
end? cui hono ?- He studies on ; but, as the boy told Sf.
Austin, when I have laved the sea dry, thou shalt understand
the mysterie of the Trinity. He makes observations, keeps
times and seasons; (and as a Conradus the emperor would not
touch his new bride, till an astrologer had told him a masculine
hour) but with what success ? He travels into Europe, Africk,
Asia, searcheth every creek, sea, city, mountain, gulf; to what
end ? See one promontory (saith Socrates of old), one moun¬
tain, one sea, one river; and see all. An alchymist spends his
fortunes to find out the philosophers stone forsooth, cure all
diseases, make men long-lived, victorious, fortunate, invisible,
and beggars himself, misled by those seducing impostors (which
he shall never attain) to make gold : an antiquary consumes
his treasure and time to scrape up a company of old coyns,
statues, rolls, edicts, manuscripts, &c. he must know what was
done of old in Athens, Rome, what lodging, dyet, houses,
they had, and have all the present news at first, though never
so remote, before all others, what projects, counsels, consul¬
tations, &c. quid Juno in aurem insusurret Jovi, what’s now
decreed in France, what in Italy : who was he, whence comes
he, which way, whither goes he, &c. Aristole must find out
the motion of Euripus ; Pliny must needs see Vesuvius ; but
how sped they ? One loseth goods, another his life. Pyrrhus
will conquer Africk first, and then Asia : he will be a sole
monarch, a second immortal, a third rich, a fourth commands.
b Turbine magno sjpes solicitor in urbibus errant; we run, ride,
take indefatigable pains, all up early, down late, striving to
get that, which we had better be without : Ardelions, busie-
bodies, as we are, it were much fitter for us to be quiet, sit still,
and take our ease. His sole study is for words, that they be,
• - Lepide Xsfe/s compostse, ut tesserulse omnes,
not a syllable misplaced, to set out a stramineous subject; as
thine is about apparel, to follow the fashion, to be terse and
polite ; ’tis thy sole business; both with like profit. His only
delight is building; he spends himself to get curious pictures,
intricate models and plots ; another is wholly ceremonious about
titles, degrees, inscriptions ; a third is over-solicitous about his
diet; he must have such and such exquiste sauces, meat so
dressed, so far fetched, peregrini aeris volucres , so cooked, &c.
something to provoke thirst, something anon to quench his
thirst. Thus he re deems his appetite with extrordinary charge
to his purse, is seldome pleased with any meal, whilst a trivial
1 Seneca.
Mem. 4. Subs. 7.] Other Accidents and Grievances. 251
stomach useth all with delight, and is never offended. An¬
other must have roses in winter, alieni temper is fores, snow¬
water in summer, fruits before they can be or are usually ripe,
artificial gardens and fish-ponds on the tops of houses, all
things opposite to the vulgar sort, intricate and rare, or else
they are nothing worth. So busie, nice, curious wits, make
that unsupportable in all vocations, trades, actions, employ¬
ments, which to duller apprehensions is not offensive, earnestly
seeking that which others as scornfully neglect. Thus,
through our foolish curiosity' do we macerate our selves, tire
our souls and run headlong, through our indiscretion, per¬
verse will, and want of government, into many needless cares
and troubles, vain expences, tedious journeys, painful hours;
and when all is done, quorsum hcec ? cui boni ? to what end?
a Nescire velle quse Magister maximus
Docere non vult, erudita inscitia est.
Unfortunate Marriage.'] Amongst these passions andirksome
accidents, unfortunate marriage may be ranked : a condition
of life appointed by God himself in Paradise, an honourable
and happy estate, and as great a felicity as can befall a man
in this world, bif the parties can agree as they ought, and live
as c Seneca lived with his Paullina : but if they be unequally
matched, or at discord, a greater misery cannot be expected,
to have a scold, a slut, an harlot, a fool, a Fury or a fiend ;
there can be no such plague. (Eecles. 26.14) He that hath
her , is as if he held a scorpion ; (and 26. 25) a wicked wife
makes a sorry countenance, an heavy heart ; and he had rather
dwell with a lydn, than keep house with such a wife. Her
d properties Jovianus Pontanus hath described at large ( Ant.
dial. Tom. 2 ) under the name of Euphorbia. Or if they be
not equal in years, the like mischief happens. Csecilius (in
Agellius, lib. 2. cap. 23) complains much of an old wife : dum
ejus morti inhio, egomet mortuus vivo inter vivos ; whilst I gape
after her death, I live a dead man amongst the living; or, if
they dislike upon any occasion,
e Judge, you that are unfortunately wed.
What ’tis to come into a loathed bed.
The same inconvenience befalls women.
f At vos, o duri, miseram lugete, parentes,
Siferro autlaqueo laeva hac me exsolvere sorte
Sustineo — -
2 Jos. Scaliger, in Gnomis. 13 A vertuous woman is the crown of her husband.
Prov. 12. 4. but she, &c. c Lib. 17. epist 105. d Titionatur, candela-
bratur, &e. ' « Daniel, in Rosamund. f Chalinorus, lib. 9. de repub. Angl.
252
Causes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
Hard hearted parents, both lament my fate.
If self I kill or hang, to ease my state.
f A young- gentlewoman in Basil was married (saith Felix
Plater, observat. 1. 1.) to an ancient man against her will,
whom she could not affect : she was continually melancholy,
and pined away for grief ; and, though her husband did all he
could possibly to give her content, in a discontented humour
at length she hanged her self. Many other stories he relates
in this kind. Thus men are plagued with women, they again
with men, when they are of divers humours and conditions;
he a spendthrift, she sparing; one honest, the other dishonest,
&c. Parents many times disquiet their children, and they
their parents. b:A foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
Injusta noierca : a stepmother often vexeth a whole family,- is
matter of repentance, exercise of patience, fuel of dissention,
which made Catos son expostulate with his father, why he
should offer to marry his client Solinius daughter, a young
wench— cujus caussd noveream indueeret ? what offence had
he done, that he should marry again ?
Unkind, unnatural friends, evil neighbours, bad servants,
debts, and debates, &c.— ’twas Chilons sentence, comes asris
alieni et litis est miser ia, misery and usury do commonly go
together; suretiship is the bane of many families ; sponde,
prcesto noxa est: he shall be sore vexed that is surety for a
stranger (Prov. 11. 15.), and he that hateth suretiship is sure.
Contention, brawling, law-suits, falling out of neighbours and
friends ( discordia demens , Virg. JEn. 6), are equal to the first,
grieve many a man, and vex his soul. Nihil sane miser abilius
eorum meniibus (as cBoler holds) : nothing so miserable as such
men, full (f cares, griefs, anxieties, as if they were stabbed with
a sharp sword : fear, suspicion , desperation, sorrow are their
ordinary companions. Our Welchmen are noted, by some of
their d own /writers, to consume one another in this kind;
but, whosoever they are that use it, these are their common
symptomes, especially if they be convict or overcome, e east in
a suit. Arius, put out of a bishoprick fey Eustathius, turned
beretiek, and lived after discontented all his life. f Every
repulse is of like nature ; hen l quanta de spe deeidi ! Dis¬
grace, infamy, detraction, will almost effect as much, and that
a Megans virgo in vita cuidam e nostratibus nupsit, &c. bProv. c De
increm. orb. lib. 3. c. 3. Tamquam diro mncrone confossi : his nnlla requies, nulla
delectatio ; solicitudine, gemitu, furore, desperatione, timore, tatnquam ad perpetuam
asrumnam infeliciter rapti. dHumfredas Lluvd, epist. ad Abrahamum Orteb'am.
M. Vaughan, -in his Golden Fleece. Litibns et controversiis usque ad omnium bonorum
qdnsumptionem coatendunt. 8 Spretseque injuria for ma3. r Qu@qne
repulsa gravis. ’
Mem. 4. Subs. 7.] Other Accidents and Grievances. 253
along time after. Hipponax, a satyrical poet, so vilified and
lashed two painters in hisiambicks, ut amho laqueo se suffoca-
rent (a Pliny saith), both hanged themselves. All oppositions,
dangers, perplexities, discontents, bto live in any suspence,
are of the same rank : potes hoc sub casu ducere somnos ?- who
can be secure in such cases ? Ill bestowed benefits, ingratitud e,
unthankful friends, much disquiet and molest some. Unkind
speeches trpuble as many : uncivil carriage or dogged answer,
weak women above the rest, if they proceed from their surly
husbands, are as bitter as gaul, and not to be digested. A
glass-mans wife in Basil became melancholy, because her
husband said he would marry again if she dyed. JVb cut, to
unkindness, as the saying is : a frown and hard speech, ill
respect, a brow-beating, or bad-look, especially to courtiers,
or such as attend upon great persons, is present death.
Ingenium vultu statque caditque suo ;
they ebb and flow with their masters favours. Some persons
are at their wits ends, if by chance they overshoot themselves
in their ordinary speeches or actions, which may after turn
to their disadvantage ordisgrace, or have any secret disclosed.
Bonseus ( epist . miscel. 3) reports of a gentlewoman twenty
five years old, that falling foul with one of her gossips, was
upbraided with a secret infirmity (no matter what), in publick,
and so much grieved with it, that she did thereupon solitudines
qucerere, omnesab seablegare,ac tandem in gravissimam incidens
melancholiam , contabescere— forsake all company, quite moped,
and in a melancholy humour pine away. Others are much
tortured to see themselves rejected, contemned, scorned, dis¬
abled, diffamed, detracted, undervalued, or c left behind their
fellows. Lucian brings in iEtamocles a philosopher in his
Lapith. convivio, much discontented that he was not invited
amongst the rest, expostulating the matter, in a long epistle,
with Aristaenetus their host. Praetextatus, a robed gentleman
in Plutarch, would not sit down at a feast, because be might
not sit highest, but went his wayes all in a chafe. We see the
common quarrellings that are ordinary with us, for taking of
the wall, precedency, and the like, which though toyes in
themselves, and things of no moment, yet they cause many
distempers, muchheart-burning amongst us. Nothing piereeth
deeper than a eontempt or disgrace; d especially if they be
generous spirits, scarce any thing affects them more than to
* Lib. 36. c. 5. b Nihil seque amarum, quam din pendere : asquiore quidam
animo ferant praecidi spem snam, qnam trahi. Seneca, cap. 4. lib. . 2. de Ben. — Virg. —
Plater, observat. 1. 1. Tnrpe relinqni est. Hor. d Scimns enim generosas
natures nulla re citius moveri, aut gravius affici, quam confemtu ac despicientia.
254
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
be despised or vilified. Croto ( comil. 16. 1. 2) exemplifies it,
and common experience confirms it. Of the same nature is
oppression; ( Ecclus . 77) surely oppression makes a man mad;
loss of liberty, which made Brutus venture his life, Cato kill
himself, and aTully complain, omnem hilaritatem in perpetuum
amisi, mine heart’s broken, I shall never look up, or be merry
again ; b hcec jactur a intolerahilis ; to some parties ’tis a most
intolerable loss. Banishment, a great misery, as Tyrtaeus
describes it an epigram of bis,
Nam miserum est, patria amissa, Laribusque, vagari
Mendieum, et timidd voce rogare cibos.
Omnibus invisus, quocumque accesserit, exsul
Semper erit ; semper spretus egensque jacet, & c.
A miserable thing ’tis so to wander,
And like a beggar for to whine at door.
Contemn’d of all the world an exile is,
Hated, rejected, needy still, and poor.
Polynices, in his conference with locasta, in c Euripides,
reckons- up five miseries of a banished man, the least of
which alone were enough to deject some pusillanimous crea¬
tures. Oftentimes a too great feeling of our own infirmities
or imperfections of body or mind will rivel us up ; as, if we
be long sick,
(0 beata sanitas ! te preesente, amosnum
Ver floret gratiis ; absque te nemo beatus ;
O blessed health ! thou art above all gold and treasure {Ecclus.
$0. 15), the poor mans riches, the rich mans bliss : without
thee, there can be no happiness) or visited with some loath¬
some disease, offensive to others, or troublesome to our selves,
as a stinking breath, deformity of our limbs, crookedness,
loss of an eye, leg, hand, paleness, -leanness, redness, baldness,
loss or want of hair, &c. hie ubi jluere ceepit, diros ictus cordi
infert (saith dSynesius, he himself troubled not a little ob
comae defectum ), the loss of hair alone strikes a cruel stroke to
the heart. Acco, an old woman, seeing by chance her face
in a true glass (for she used false flattering glasses, belike, at
other times, as most gentlewomen do) animi dolore in insaniam
delapsa est (Ccelius Khodoginus, l. 17. e. 2) ran mad. eBro-
teas, the son of Vulcan, because he was ridiculous for his
imperfections, flung himself into the fire. Lais of Corinth,
now grown old, gave up her glass to Venus; for she could
not abide to look upon it.
f Qualis sum, nolo ; qualis eram, nequeo.
a Ad Atticum epist. lib. 12. bEpist. ad Brutnm. « In Phoeniss.
& Io laudem ealvit. e Ovid* Cret. .
Jlem. 4. Sabs. 7.] Other Accidents and Grievances. 255
Generally, to fair nice pieces, old age and foul linnen are
two most odious things, a torment of torments ; they may not
abide the thought of it.
- - a 5 Deorum
Siquis hsec audis, utinam inter errem
Nuda leones!
Antequam turpis macies decentes
Oceupet malas, tenerseque succus
Defluat preedae, speciosa qusero
Pascere tigres.
To be foul, ugly, and deformed ! much better to be buried
alive. Some are fair, but barren ; and that gauls them.
Hannah wept sore, did not eat, and was troubled in spirit,
and all for her barrenness (1 Sam. 1), and (Gen. 30) Xtachel
said in the anguish of her soul , give me a child, or I shall dye:
another hath too many: one was never married, and that’s
his hell ; another is, and that’s his plague. Some are troubled
in that they are obscure ; others by being traduced, slandered,
abused, disgraced, vilified, or any way injured ; minimemiror
eos (as he said) qui insanire occipiunt ex injuria ; I marvel not
at all if offences make men mad. Seventeen particular causes
of anger and offence Aristotle reckons them up, which, for
brevities sake, 1 must omit. No ty dings troubles one ; ill re¬
ports, rumors, bad ty dings, or news, hard hap, ill success, cast
in a sute, vain hopes, or hope deferred, another; expectation,
adeo omnibus in rebus molest a semper est expect atio (as b Po¬
lybius observes) : one is too eminent, another too base born;
and that alone tortures him as much as the rest ; one is out
of action, company, imployment ; another overcome and tor¬
mented with worldly cares, and onerous business. But what
c tongue can suffice to speak of all?
Many men catch this malady by eating certain meats,
herbs, roots, at unawares, as henbane, nightshade, cicuta,
mandrakes, &c. d A company of young men at Agrigentum,
in Sicily, came into a tavern ; where after they had freely
taken their liquor, whether it were the wine it self, or some¬
thing mixt with it, ’tis not yet known, e but upon a sudden
they began to be so troubled in their brains, and their phan-
tasie so crazed, that they thought they were in a ship at sea,
and now ready to .be cast away by reason of a tempest.
aHor. 3. Car.. Ode 27. _ bHist 1. 6. cNon, mxhi si centum lingnae
sint, oraqoe centum. Omnia caussarnmpercurrere noinina possim. d Goelius,
1. 17. c. 2. e Ita mente exagitati sunt, ut in triremi se constitntos putarent, ma¬
nque vagabimdo tempestate jactatos : proinde naufraginm verity egestis tmdiqae rebus,
vasa omnia in viam e fenestris, cen in mare, praecipitarrmt : postridie, &c.
256
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
Wherefore, to avoid shipwreck and present drowning, they
flung all the goods in the house out at the windows into the
street, or into the sea, as they supposed. Thus they continued
mad a pretty season ; and being brought before the magistrate,
to give an account of this their fact, they told him (not yet re¬
covered of their madness) that what was done they did for fear
of death, and to avoid eminent danger. The spectators were
all amazed at this their stupidity, and gazed on them still,
whilst-one of the antientest of the company, in a grave tone,
excused himself to the magistrate upon his knees. O viri
Tritones, ego in imojacui; I beseech your deities, &c. for I
was in the bottom of the ship all the while : another besought
them, as so many sea gods, to be good unto them ; and, if ever
he and his fellows came to land again, ahe would build an altar
to their service. The magistrate could not sufficiently laugh
at this their madness, bid them sleep it out, and so went his
wayes. Many such accidents frequently happen upon these
unknown occasions. Some are so caused by philters, wandring
in the sun, biting of a mad dog, a blow on the head, stinging
with that kind of Spider called tarantula-— an ordinary thing (if
we may belie ve Skenck. 1. 6. de Venenis) in Calabria and A pulia
in Italy (Cardan, subtil. 1. .9. Scaliger, exercitat. 185). Their
symptomes are merrily described by Jovianus Pontanus {Ant.
dial.) how they dance altogether, and are Cured by musick.
b Cardan speaks of certain stones, if they be carried about one,
which will cause melancholy and madness ; he calls them un¬
happy, as ah c adamant , selenites, Sf-c. which dry up the body ,
increase cares, diminish sleep. Ctesias (in Persicis) makes
mention of a well in those parts, of which if any man drink,
d he is mad for four and twenty hours. Some lose their wits
by terrible objects (as elsewhere I have more e copiously di¬
lated), and life it self many times, as Hippoly tus affrighted by
Neptunes sea-horses, Athamas by Junos Furies : but these
relations are common in all writers.
f Hie alias poteram et plures subnectere caussas :
Sed jumenta vocant, et Sol inclinat. Eundum est.
Many such causes, much more could I say.
But that for provender my cattle stay, . ..
The sun declines, and I must needs away.
These causes, if they be considered, and comealone,I do easily
yield, can do little of themselves, seldome, or apart (an old oak
is notfelledat a blow), though many times they are all sufficient
a Aram vobis servatoribus Diis erigemns. b Lib. de gemmis. c Qose
gestatas infelicem et tristem reddant, curas angent, corpus siccant. somnuni minuont.
d Ad imam diem mente alieuatas. e Part. ]. Sect. 2. Subsect. 3. fJuven.
Sat 3.
Mem. 5. Subs. I.] Other Accidents and Grievances. 257
every one : yet, if they concurr, as often they do, vis unita
fortior .*
Et quae non obsunt singula, tnulta nocent ;
they may batter a strong constitution; as a Austin said, many
grains and small sands sink a ship , many small drops make a
flood, fye. Often reiterated, many dispositions produce an
"habit.
MEMB. V. SUBSECT. I.
Continent, inward, antecedent , next' Causes, and how the Body
works on the Mind.
As a purly hunter, I have hitherto beaten about the circuit
of the forresf of this miscrocosm, and followed only those out¬
ward adventitious causes. I will now break into the inner
rooms, and rip up the antecedent immediate causes which are
there to be found. For, as the distraction of the mind, amongst
other outward causes and perturbation, alters the temperature
of the body, so the distraction and distemper of the body will
cause a distemperature of the soul; and ’tis hard to decide
which of these two do more harm to the other. Plato, Cy¬
prian, and some, others (as I have formerly said), lay the
greatest fault upon the soul, excusing the body; others again,
accusing the body, excuse the soul, as a principal agent.
Their reasons are, because b the manners do follow the tempera¬
ture of the body, as Galen proves in his book of that subject,
Prosper Calenius, de Atra Bile, Jason Prate nsis, c. de Mania,
Lemiiius, l. 4. c. 16, and many others. And that which
Gaulter hath commented ( horn . 10. in epist. Johannis ) is most
true; concupiscence and original sin, inclinations and bad
humours, are c radical in every one of us, causing these per¬
turbations, affections, and several distempers, offering many
times violence unto the soul. Every man is tempted by his own
concupiscence (James 1. 14); the spirit is willing ; but the flesh
is weak, andrebelleth against the spirit, as our d apostle teaeheth
us : that metkinks the soul hath the better plea against the
body, which so forcibly inclines us, that we cannot resist ;
Nec nos obniti contra, nec tendere tantum,
Sufficimus.
How the body, being material, worketh upon the immaterial
soul, by mediation of humours and spirits which participate of
both, and ill disposed organs, Cornelius Agrippa hath dis¬
coursed, lib. 1 . de occult, Philos, cap. 63, 64, 65. Levinus
a Iotas bestise minute multe necant. iNumqnid minutissima sunt granaarenae?
sed si arena amplius in nave in mittatnr, mergit illam Qnam minute gutte pluvte !
et tamen impient flumina, damns ejiciunt: timehda ergo rnina multitudinis, si non mag-
nitudiuis. “Mores sequuntur temperaturam corporis. c Scintilla latent in
earporibus. d Gal. 5.
258
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
Lemnius, lib. 1. deoccult, not. mir. cap. ] 2.e£ 16. et 21. mstitut.ad
opt. vit. Perkins, lib. 1. Cases of Cons. cap. 12. T. Bright,
c. 10, 11, 12. in his Treatise of Melancholy. For, as a anger,
fear, sorrow, obtrectation, emulation, &e. si mentis intimos re-
cessusoccuparint (saith b Lemnius), cor port quoqueinfesta sunt,
et illi teterrimos morhosinferunt , cause grievous diseases in the
body, so bodily diseases affect the soul by consent. Now the
chiefest causes proceed from the cheart, humours, spirits; as
they are purer, or impurer, so is the mind, and equally suffers,
as a lute out of tune ; if one string or one organ be distem¬
pered, all the rest miscarry :
• — - - d Corpus, onustum
Hesterms vitiis, animum quoque prsegravat una. :
The body is domicilium animce, her house, abode, and stay;
and, as a torch gives a better light, a sweeter smell, according
to the matter it is made of, so doth our soul perform all her
actions better or worse, as her organs are disposed ; or as wine
savours of the cask wherein it is kept, the soul receives a
tincture from the body, through which it works. We see this
in old men, children, Europeans, Asians, hot and cold climes.
Sanguin are merry, melancholy sad, phlegmatick dull, by
reason of abundance of those humours; and they cannot resist
such passions which are inflicted by them; for, in this infirmity
of humane nature ( as Melancthon declares), the understanding
is so tied to and captivated by his inferiour senses, that without
their help, he cannot exercise his functions ; and the will, being
weakned, hath but a small power to restrain those outward
parts, but suffers herself to be overruled by them ; that I must
needs conclude with Lemnius, spiritus et humor es maximum
nocumentum obtinent, spirits and humours do most harm in
e troubling the soul. How should a man choose but be cho-
lerick and angry, that hath his body so clogged with abun¬
dance of gross humours ? or melancholy, that is so inwardly
disposed ? That thence comes then this malady, madness,
apoplexies, lethargies, &c. it may not be denied.
Now this body of ours is, most part, distempered by some
precedentdiseases, which molest his inward organs and instru¬
ments, and so, per consequens, cause melancholy, according to
the consent of the most approved physicians. f This humour
(as Avicenna, l. 3. Fen. 1. Tract. 4. c. 18. Arnoldus, breviar.
1. 3. c. 18. Jacchinus, comment. ?%9.Rhasis. c. 15. Montaltus,
a Sicut ex animi affectionibus corpus languescit, sic ex corporis vitiis et morbormn
plerisque cruciatibus animnm videmus hebetari. Galenas, bLib. 1. c. 16.
c Corporis itidem morbi animam per consensum, a lege consortii, afficiunt : et, quan-
quam objecta multos motus turbulentos ia homine concitent, prsecipua tamen caussa in
corde, et hnmoribns, spiritihusque, consistit, &c. <5 Hor. e Huinores pravi
mentem obnubilant. f Hie humor vel a partis intemperie generator, xel relinquitor
post inflammatioaes, vel crassior in venis conckisus vel torpidus malignam qualitatem
contrahit.
Mem. 5. Subs. 2.] Other Accidents and Grievances 259
e. 10. Nicholas Piso, c. de Blelan. Sf-c. suppose) is begotten by
the distemper atwre of some inward part , innate , or left after
some inflammation, or else includedin the blood, after an a ague,
or some other malignant disease. This opinion of theirs con-
currs with that of Galen, l. 3. c. 6. de locis affect. Guianerius
gives an instance in one so caused by a quartan ague ; and
Montanus (consil. 32), in a young man of twenty-eight years
of age, so distempered after a quartan, which had molested
him for five years together. Hildesheim (spicil.2. de Manid)
relates of a Dutch baron, grievously tormented with melan¬
choly after a long b ague. Galen (l. de atra bile, c. 4) puts
the plague a cause ; Botaldus (in his book de lue verier, c. 2)
the French pox for a cause ; others, phrensie, epilepsie, apo-
plexie, because those diseases do often degenerate into this.
Of suppression of heemrods, hsemorrhagia, or bleeding at
nose, menstruous retentions (although they deserve a larger
explication, as being the sole cause of a proper kind of me¬
lancholy, in more ancient maids, nuns, and widows, handled
apart by Rodericus a Castro, and Mercatus, as I have else¬
where signified), or any other evacuation stopped, I have
already spoken. Only this I will add, that this melancholy,
which shall be caused by such infirmities, deserves to be
pittied of all men, and to be respected with a more tender
compassion (according to Laurentius)* as coming from a more
inevitable cause.
SUBSECT. II.
Distemper ature of particular Parts, Causes.
There is almost no part of the body, which, being dis¬
tempered, doth not cause this malady* as the brain and his
parts, heart, liver, spleen, stomach, matrix or womb, pylorus,
myrache, mesentery, hypochondries, mesaraick veins; and, in
a word (saith c Arculanus), there is no pari ivhich causeth not
melancholy, either because it is adust, or doth not expel the
superfluity of the nutriment. Savanarola ( Pract . major, ru¬
bric. 11. Tract. 6. cap • l) is of the same opinion, that melan¬
choly is ingendred in each particular part; and d Crato (in
^•Ssepe constat in febre 'hommem melancholicum vel post febrem reddi, ant alium
morbum. Calida intemperies innata, vel a febre contracta. . t> Raro qois diutumo
morbo laborat, qoi non sit melancbolicus. Mercurialis, de affect, capitis, lib. 1. c. 10.
de Melanc. « Ad nonnm lib. Rbasis ad Almansor. c. 16. - Uniyersaliter a qua-
cunque parte potest fieri melancholicus ; vel quia aduritur, vel quia non expellit super-’
fluitatem excrementi. dA liene, jecinore, utero, et aliis partibus, oritur.
260
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
consil. 17. lib. 2). Gordonius, who is instar omnium, (lib. med.
partic. 2. cap. 19), confirms as much, putting’ the a matter of
melancholy sometimes in the stomachy liver, heart, brain, spleen,
myrach, hypochondries,wken as the melancholy humour resides
there, or the liver is not well cleansed from melancholy blood.
The brain is a familiar and frequent cause, too hot, or too
cold, b through adust blood, so caused (m Mercurialis will have
it) within or without the head ; the brain it self being distem¬
pered. Those are most apt to this disease, c ihat have a hot
heart and moist brain ; which Montaltus (cap. It. deMelanch .)
approves, out of Halyabbas, R basis, and Avicenna. Mercuri¬
al is (comil. 11) assigns the coldness of the brain a cause;
and Sallustius Salvianus (med.leei. 2,-e. 1) d will have it arise
from a cold and dry distemper ature of the brain. Piso, Bene-
dictus, Victorias Faventinus, will have it proceed from a e hot
distemper ature of the brain; and f Montaltus (cap. 10) from
the brains heat, scorching the blood. The brain is still dis¬
tempered by himself, or by consent ; by himself or his pro¬
per affection (as Faventinus calls it), § or by vapours which
arise from the other parts, and fume up into the head, altering
the animal fapulties.
Hildesheim {spied. 2. de Mania) thinks it may be caused
from a h distemper ature of the heart, sometimes hot, sometimes
cold. A hot liver and a cold stomach are put for usual
causes of melancholy. Mercurialis (donsil. 11. et consil. 6.
consil. 86) assignes a hot liver and cold stomach for ordinary
causes. ^Vlouavius (in an epistle of his to Crato, in Seoltzius)
is of opinion that hypochondriacal melancholy may arise from
a cold liver. The question is there discussed. Most agree
that a hot liver is in fault. k'The liver is the shop of humours,
and especially cduseth melancholy by his hot and dry distem¬
per ature. 1 The stomach, and mesardickveins do often coneurr,
by reason of their obstructions ; and thence their heat cannot be
avoided; and many times the matter is so adust and inflamed
in those parts, that it degenerates into hypochondriacal melan¬
choly. Guianerius (c. 2. Tract. 15) holds the mesaraiek veins
a Materia melancholias aliquando in corde, in stomacho, hepate, hypochpndriis. my-
rache, splene, cum ibi remanet humor melancholicus. 11 Ex sanguine adhsto,
intra vel extra caput. c Qui calidum cor habent, cerebrum huaiidnin, facile -me--
lancholicL d Seauitur melancholia malam intemperiem firigidam et siccam ipsias
cerebri. e-Ssepe fit ex calidiore cerebro, aut corpore colligente melanchoiiam.
Piso. fVel per propriam affectionem, vel per consensum, cum vapores exhalant
in cerebrum. Montalt. cap. 14. = Aut ibi gdgnitur melancholicus fumns, -aut
aliunde vehitur, alterando animales fiacnltates. _ h Ab intemperie cordis, modo
calidiore, modo frigidiore. i Epist. 239. Scoltzii. k Officina hnmorum
bepar concurrit, &c. 1 Ventriculus et veaas mesaraicaj epneurrunt, quod has
partes obstructs sunt, &c.
261
Mem. 5. Subs. 3.] Causes of Head-Melancholy.
to be a sufficient a cause alone. The spleen concurrs to this
malady (by all their consents), and suppression of hsemrods
dum non expur gat, altera causa , lien, saith Montaltus : if it be
b too cold and dry, and do not purge the other parts as it ought
( Consil . 23). Montanus puts the c spleen stopped for a great
cause. d Christophorus a Vega reports, of his knowledge, that
he hath known melancholy caused from putrified blood in
those seed veins and womb : e Arculanus from that menstr nous
blood turned into melancholy, and seed too long detained (as I
have already declared) by putrefaction or adustion.
The mesenterium , or midriffe, diaphragma, is a cause (which
the f Greeks called <pgsv«;), because, by his inflammation, the
mind is much troubled with convulsions and dotage. All
these, most part, offend by inflammation, corrupting humours
and spirits, in this non-natural melancholy ; for from these are
ingendred fuliginous and blackspirits. And, for that reason,
s Montaltus {cap. 10. de caussis melan.) will have the efficient
cause of melancholy to be hot and dry, not a cold and dry dis¬
temper ature, as some hold, from the heat of the brain , rosting
the blood, immoderate heat of the liver and bowels, and inflam¬
mation of the pylorus : and so much the rather, because that
(as Galen holds) all spices inflame the blood, solitariness, wak¬
ing, agues, study, meditation , all which heat ; and therefore
he concludes that this distemper ature causing adventitious me¬
lancholy, is not cold and dry, but hot and dry. But of this I
have sufficiently treated in the matter of melancholy, and
hold that this may be true in non-natural melancholy which
produceth madness, but not in that natural, which is more
cold, and being immoderate, produceth a gentle dotage ;
h which opinion Geraldus de Solo maintains in his comment
upon Rhasis.
SUBSECT. III.
Causes of Head-Melancholy.
AFTERa tedious discourse of the general causes of me¬
lancholy, I am now returned at last to treat in brief of the
three particular speeies, and such causes as properly appertain
aPer se sanguinem adurentes. l)Lien frigidus et siccus, c. 13. cSplen ob-
structus. 1 dDe arte med.lib.3. cap. 24. eA sanguinis putredine in vasis seminariis
et utero, et quandoque a sperxnate din retento, vel sanguine menstruo in melaneholiam
verso per putrefactionem, vel adnstionem. fMagirus. sErgo efficiens caussa
melancboliae est calida et sicca intemperies, non frigida et sicca, quod multi opinati
sunt; oritur enim a calore cerebri assante sanguinem. Sec. turn quod aromata sangui¬
nem incendunt, solitudo, vigilim, febris prsecedens, meditatio, stuaium; ethsec omnia
calefaciunt: ergo ratam sit. ‘ll Lib. 1. cap. 13. de Melanch.
262
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
unto them. Although these causes promiscuously concur to
each and every particular kind, and commonly produce their
effects in that part which is most weak, ill disposed, and least
able to resist, and so cause all three species, yet many of them
are proper to some one kind, and seldom found in the rest:
as, for example, head-melancholy is commonly caused by a
cold or hot distemperature of the brain, according to Lauren-
tius {cap. 5. de melan.), but, as a Hercules de Saxonia con¬
tends, from that agitation or distemperature of the animal spi¬
rits alone. Sallust. Salvianus, before mentioned {lib. 2. cap. 3;
de re med.) will have it proceed from cold : but that I take of
natural melancholy, such as are fools, and dote ; for fas Galen
writes, lib. 4. de puls. 8.' and Avicenna) ba cold and moist
brain is an unseparable companion of folly. But this adven¬
titious melancholy, which is here meant, is caused of an hot
and dry distemperature, as 0 Damascen the Arabian {lib. 3.
cap. 22) thinks, and most writers. Altomarus and Piso call
it A an innate burning untemper ateness, turning blood and
choler into melancholy. Both these opinions may stand good,
as Bruel maintains, and Oapivaecius, si cerebrum sit calidius,
6if the brain be hot. the animal spirits will be hot, and thence
comes madness: if cold, folly. David Crusius (Theat. morb.
Hermet. lib. 2. cap. 6. tie atra bile) grants melancholy to be a
disease of an inflamed brain, and cold notwithstanding of itself:
calida per accidens, frigidaper se, hot by accident only. I
am of Capivaecius mind, for my part. Now this humour,
according to Salvianus, is sometimes in the substance of the
brain, sometimes contained in the membranes and tunicles that
co ver the brain, sometimes in the passages of the ventricles of
the brain, or veins of those ventricles. It follows many times
f phrensie, long diseases , agues, long abode in hot places, or
under the sun, a blow on the Head, as Bhasis informeth us :
Piso adds solitariness, waking, inflammations of the head, pro¬
ceeding most part g from much use, of spices, hot wines, hot
meats (all which Montanus reckons up, consil. 22. for a me¬
lancholy Jew; and Heurnius repeats, cap. 12. de Mania), hot
bathes, garlick, onions (saith Guianerius), bad aire, corrupt,
much b waking, &c. retention of seed, or abundance, stopping'
of haemorrhagia , the midriffe misaffected ; and (according to
a Lib. 3. Tract, postum. de melan. b A fatuitate inseparabilis cerebri frigiditas.
c Ab interno calore assatur. d Intemperies innata exnrens, flavam bilera ac sangui-
nem in melancholiam convertens. , e Si cerebrum sit calidius, fiet spiritus aniffialis
calidior, et delirium maniacum ; si frigidior, fiet fatuitas. fMelanchoiia capitis
accedit post phrenesim ant longam moram sub sole, ant percussionem in capite. cap,
13. lib. 1. eQui bibunt vina potentia, et ssepe sunt sub sole. h Curas va-
lidffi, largioris vini-et aromatum uses. ‘ *
Mem. 5. Subs. 4. } Other Accidents and Grievances . 263
Trallianus, 1. 1. 16) immoderate cares, troubles, griefs, discon¬
tents, study, meditation, and, in a word, the abuse of all those
six non-natural things. Hercules de Saxonia (cap. 16. lib. 1)
will have it caused from a a cautery, or boyl dried up, or any
issue. Amatus Lusitauus (cent. 2. cur a 67) gives instance in a
fellow that had a boyl in his arm, and, b after that was healed,
ran mad; and , when the wound was open, he was cured again.
Trincaveilius {consil. 13. lib. 1) hath an example of a melan¬
choly man so caused by overmuch continuance in the sun,
frequent use of venery, and immoderate exercise ; and (in his
cons. 49. lib. 3) from an c headpiece overheated, which caused
head-melancholy. Prosper Calenus brings in Cardinal Caesius
for a pattern of such as are so melancholy by long study : but
examples are infinite.
SUBSECT. IV.
Causes of Hypochondriacal, or windy Melancholy.
In repeatingof these causes, I must cramben bis coctam appo-
nere, say that again which I have formerly said , in applying them
to their proper species. Hypochondriacal or flatuous melan¬
choly is that which the Arabians call myrachial, and is, in my
judgement, the most grievous and frequent, though Bruel and
Laurentius make it least dangerous, and not so hard to be
known or cured. His causes are inward or outward '.—inward
from divers parts or organs, as midriffe, spleen, stomach,
liver, pylorus, womb, diaphragma, mesaraick veins, stopping
of issues, &c. Montaltus, cap. 15. out of Galen) recites dheat
and obstruction of ' those mesaraick veins, as an immediate
cause, by which means the passage of the chylus to the liver
is detained, stopped, or corrupted, and turned into rumbling
and wind. Montanus {consil. 233) hath an evident demon¬
stration, Trincaveilius another {lib. 1. cap. 12), and Plater a
third {observat. lib. 1) for a doctour of the law visited with this
infirmity, from the said obstruction and heat of those mesa¬
raick veins, and bowels; quoniam inter ventriculum etjecur
venae effervescunt, the veins are inflamed about the liver and
stomach. Sometimes those other parts are together misaffected,
and concurr to the production of this malady — a hot liver or
cold stomach or cold belly. Look for instances in Hollerius,
a A cauterio et ulcere exsiccato. b Ab ulcere curato incidit in insaniam ; aperto
vulnere, curator. CA galea minis calefacta. <J Exuritur sanguis, et venss
obstrunntur, qaibus obstructis prohibetur transitus chyli ad jecur, corrumpitur, et in
rngitns et flatus vertitur.
c e
264
Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. See. 2.
Victor, Trincavellius, consil. 35. 1. 3. Hildesheim, spicil. 2.
fol. 132. Solenanderj consil. 9,pro cive Lug dunensi, Montanas,
consil. 229, for the Earl of -Monfort in Germany, 1 549, and
Frisimelica in the 233 consultation of the said Montanus.
J. Caesar Claudinus gives instance of a cold stomach and over¬
hot liver, almost in every consultation, -.con. 89, for a certain
count, and cow. 106, for aPolonian baron : by reason of heat, the
blood is inflamed, and gross vapours senttotheheartand brain.
Mercurialis subscribes to them, {qoris. 89) a the stomach being
misaffected, which he calls the king of the belly, because, if he
be distempered, all the rest suffer with him, as being deprived
of their nutriment or fed with bad nourishment; by means of
which, come crudities, obstructions, wind, rumbling, griping,
Sec. Hercules de Saxonia, besidesheat,wili have the weakness
of the liver and his obstruction a cause, facultatem debilem
jecinoris, which he calls b the mineral of melancholy. Lauren-
tius assigns this reason, because the liver overhot draws the
meat undigested out of the stomach, and burneth the humours.
Montanus {cons. 244!) proves that sometimes a cold liver may
be a cause. Laurentius (c. 12), Trincavellius {lib. 12. consil.)
and Gualtei* Bruel, seem to lay the greatest fault upon the
spleen, that doth not his duty in purging the liver as he
ought, being too great, or too little* in drawing too much
blood sometimes to it, and not expelling it, asP. Cnemiandrus
in a c consultation of his noted : tumorem lienis, he names it,
and the fountain of melancholy. Diodes supposed the ground
of this kind of melancholy to proceed from the inflammation of
the pylorus, which is the heather mouth of the ventricle.
Others assign the mesenteriumor midriffe distempered by heat,
the womb misaffected, stopping of haemrods, with inany such fr¬
ail, which Laurentius (cap. 12) reduceth to three, mesentery,
liver and spleen ; from whence he denominates hepatick,
splenetick, and mesaraick melancholy. Outward causes are
bad diet, care, griefs, discontents,- and, in a word, all those six
non-natural things, as Montanus found by his experience(eo?mZ.
244). Solenander (cowsi/. 9. for a citizen of Lyons in France)
gives his reader to understand, that he knew this mischief pro¬
cured by a medicine of cantharides, which ah unskilful phy¬
sician ministered his patient to drink, ad venerem excitandam.
But most commonly fear, grief, and some sudden commotion
or perturbation of the mind, begin it, in such bodies especially
as are ill disposed. Melancthon (tract. 14. cap. 2. de animd)
will have it as common to men, as the mother to women, upon
some grievous trouble, dislike, passion, or discontent : for, as
a Stomacho lasso, robur corporis imminuitur : et reliqua membra alimento orbata,&c,
bCap. 12. c Hildesheim. .
Mem, 5. Subs. 5.] Other Accidents and Grievances. 265
Camerarius records in his life, Melanethon himself was much
troubled with it, and therefore could speak out of experience.
Montan us ( consil . 22. pro delirante Judceo) confirms it : a grie¬
vous symptoines of the mind brought him to it, Randoiofius
relates of himself, that, being one day very intent to write out a
physicians notes, molested by an occasion, he Fell into an hy¬
pochondriacal fit, to avoid which he drank the decoction of
wormwood, and was freed. b Melanethon ( being the disease
is so troublesome and frequent) holds it a most necessary and
profitable study , for every man to know the accidents of it,
and a dangerous thing to be ignorant , and would therefore
have all men, in some sort, to understand the causes, symp-
tomes, and cures of it.
SUBSECT. V.
Causes of Melancholy from the whole Body .
As before, the cause of this kind of melancholy is inward
or outward : — inward, c when the liver is apt to ingender such
a humour, or the spleen weak by nature, and not able to dis¬
charge his office. A melancholy temperature, retention of
hsemrods, monthly issues, bleeding at nose, long diseases,
agues, and all those six non-natural things, increase it; but
especially dbad dyet (as Piso thinks), pulse, salt meat, shell-fish,
cheese, black wine, &c. Mercurialis (out of Avenues and
Avicenna) condemns all herbs ; Galen (Zih. 3. de loc. affect,
cap. 7) especially cabbage so likewise fear, sorrow, discon¬
tents, &e. but of these before. And thus in brief you have
had the general and particular causes of melancholy;
Now go and brag of thy present happiness, whosoever thou
art-; brag of thy temperature, of thy good parts ; insult, triumph,
and boast; thouseestin what a brittle state thou art, how soon
thou maist be dejected, how many several ways, by bad diet,
badayre, a small loss, a little sorrow or discontent, an ague,&c.
how many sudden accidents may procure thy ruine, what a
small tenure of happiness thou hast in this life, how weak andsilly;
a creature thou art. Humble thy self therefor eunder the mighty
hand of God(\ Pet. 5. 6), know thy self, acknowledge thy pre¬
sent misery, and make right use of it. Qui stat, videat ne cadat.
_ aHabuit sasva animi_ symptomata,' quas impedinat concoctionem, &c. & Usita-
tissimus morbus cum sit, utile est hnjps visceris accidentia considerate : nec leve peri-
culum hujus caussas morbLigaorantibus. cJecur aptum ad generandum talem
humor era. splen natura imbecfllior. Piso, Altomarus ; Gtiianerius. d Melancho-
liam, quae fit a redundantia humoris in toto corpore, victus imprimis generat, qui emn
humorem parit.
c c 2
§66 Causes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
Thou dost now flourish, and hast bona animi, corporis, et for¬
tunes, goods of body, mind, and fortune : nescis quid serus
securn vesper ferat, thou knowest not what storms and tempests
the late evening may bring with it. Be not secure then; be
sober and watch ; &fortunam reverenter habe, if fortunate and
rich ; if sick and poor, moderate thy self. I have said.
SECT. III.
MEMB.L SUBSECT, h
Symptomes, or signs of Melancholy in the Body.
Parrhasius, a painter of Athens, amongst those Olyn-
thian captives Philip ofMacedon broughthome to sell, b bought
one very old man ; and, when he had him at Athens, put him to
extream torture and torment, the better, by his example, to ex¬
press the pains and passions of his Prometheus, whom he was
then about to paint. I need not be so barbarous, inhumane,
curious, or cruel, for this purpose to torture any poor melancholy
man : their symptomes are plain, obvious, ana familiar: there
needs no such accurate observation or far fetcht object; they
delineate themselves; they voluntarily bewray themselves;
they are too frequent in all places; I meet them still as I go;
they cannot conceal it ; their grievances are too well known ;
I need not seek far to describe them.
Symptomesthereforeareeithercuniversal or particular, (saith
Gordonius, lib. med. cap. 1,9. part. 2) to persons, to species.
Some signs are secret, some manifest ; some in the body , some
in the mind; and diver sly vary, according to the inward or
outward causes (Capivaccius), or from stars (according to
Jovianus Pontanus, de reb. ccelest.'lib. 10. cap. 13) and coe-
lestial influences, or from thebumours diversely mixt (Ficiiius,
lib . 1 . cap. 4. de sanit. tuenda). As they are hot, cold, natural^
unnatural, intended, or remitted, so will Aetius have melan-
cholicadeliria multiformia, diversity of melancholy signs. Lau-
reutius ascribes them to their several temperatures, delights,
natures, inclinations, continuance of time, as they are simple or
mixtewith other diseases; as the causes are divers, so must the
signs be almost infinite, (Altomarus, cap. 7. art. med.) and as
wineproduceth divers effects, or that herb tortocolla (in dLau-
aAusonius. b Seneca, cont. lib. 10. cont. 5. c Quasdam universalia, particn-
laria qusedam ; manifesta qnaedam in corpore, qaaedam in cogitatione et animo ; qaaedam
a stellis, qnsedam ah hamoribns, qnae, nt yinnm corpus varie disponit, &c. Diversa
phantasmata pro ■varietate caussae extemae, internse. d Lib. 1. de risn. fob 17. Ad
ejus esam. alii sudantj alii vomunt, Sent, bibunt, saltant; alii rident, tremimt. dor-
miuntj &c.
267
Mem. 1. Subs. 1.] Symptomes of Melancholy.
rentius), which makes some laugh, some weep, some sleep,
some dance , some sing , some howle, some drink, fyc. so doth
this our melancholy humour work several signs in several
parties.
But to confine them, these general symptomes may he
reduced to those of the body or the mind. Those usual
signs, appearing in the bodies of such as are melancholy, be
these, cold and dry, or they are hot and dry, as the humour is
more or less adust. From athese first qualities, arise many
other second, as that of b colour, black, swarthy, pale, ruddy,
&c. some are impense rubri, (as Montaltus, cap. 16. observes
outofGalen, lib. 3. de locis affectis) very red andhigh coloured.
Hippocrates in his book c deinsania et melan. reckons up these
signs, that they are d lean, withered, hollow-eyed, look old,
wrinkled, harsh, much troubled with wind, and a griping in
their bellies, or belly-ake, belch often, dry bellies and hard ,
dejected looks, flaggy beards, singing of the ears, vertigo,
light-headed, little or no sleep, and that interrupt, terrible
fearful dreams :
e Anna soror, qu® me suspensam insomnia terrent ?
The same symptomes are repeated by Melanelius (in hisbook
of melancholy collected out of Galen, Ruffus, Aetius), by
Rhasis Gordonius, and all the juniors — -f continual, sharp , and
stinking belchings, as if their meat in their stomach were
putrifled, or that they had eaten fish, dry bellies, absurd and in¬
terrupt dreams, and many phantastical visions about their eyes ,
vertiginous, apt to tremble, and prone to venery. 2 Some
add palpitation of the heart, cold sweat, as usual symptomes,
and a leaping in many parts of the body, saltum in multis cor¬
poris partibus, a kind of itching (saith Laurentius) on the su¬
perficies of the skin, like a flea-biting sometimes. h Montaltus
(c. 21) puts fixed eyes and much twinkling of their eyes for a
sign; and so doth Avicenna, oculos habentespalpit antes, trauli,
vehementer rubicundi, Sfc. (1. 3. Fen. 1. Tract. 4. c. \S.)
They stut most part, which he took out of Hippocrates Apho¬
risms. 1 Rhasis makes head-ach and a binding heaviness
a T. Bright, cap. 20. b Nigrescit hie humor aliquaudo supercalefactus, aliquando
superfrigefactus. Melanel. e Gal. c Interprete F. Calvo. d Oculi his excavantur,
venti gignuntur circum prsecordia, et aeidi ructus, sicci fere ventris, vertigo, tinnitus
aurium, somni pusilli, somnia terribilia et interrupta. e Virg. jEn. f Assiduas
eaeque acid® rnctationes, qu® cibum virulentum pisculentumque nidorem (etsi nil tale in-
gestum sit) referant, ob cruditatem. Ventres hisce aridi, somnus plerumque parens et
interrupts, somnia absurdissima, turbulenta, corporis tremor, capitis gravedo, str.epitus
circa aures, et visiones ante oculos, adVenerem prodigi. S Altomarus, Bruel, Piso,
Montaltus. h Freqnentes habent oculorum nictationes ; aliqui tamen fixis oculis
plerumque sunt i Cent. lib. 1. tact 9. Signa lupus morbi sunt plurimus saltus,
lonitus aurium, capitis'gravedo, lingua titubat, oculi excavantur. See.
268
Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
for a principal token, much leaping of wind about the shin,
as well as slutting or tripping in speech, frc. hollow eyes,
gross veins, and broad lips. To some too, if they be Far
gone, mimical gestures are too familiar, laughing, grinning,
fleering, murmuring, talking to themselves, with strange
mouths and faces, inarticulate voices, exclamations, & c. And,
although they be commonly lean, hirsute, unehearful in coun¬
tenance, withered, and not so pleasant to behold, by reason of
those continual fears, griefs, and vexations, dull, heavy, lazy,
restless, unapt to go about any business ; yet their memories
are most part good, they have happy wits, and excellent appre¬
hensions. Their hot and dry brains make them they cannot
sleep ; ingentes habent et crebras vigilias (Areheus), mighty
and often watchings, sometimes waking for a moneth, a year
together. ^Hercules de Saxonia faithfully averreth, that he
hath heard his mother swear, she slept not for seven months
together. Trincavellius (Tom. 2. cons. 1 6) speaks of one that
waked fifty days ; and Skenkius hath example of two years
and all without offence. In natural actions, their appetite is
greater than their concoction : multa appetunt, pauca digerunt
(as Rfaasis hath it); they covet to eat, but cannot digest. And,
although they b do eat much, yet they are lean, ill liking, (saith
A returns), withered and hard, much troubled with costiveness,
crudities, oppillations, spitting, belching, &c. Their pulse is
rare and slow, except it be of the c car o tides, which is very
strong; but that varies according to their intended passions or
perturbations, as Struthius hath proved at large ( Spigmaticce
artis l. 4. e. 13)'. To' say truth, in such chronick diseases the
ptilse is not much to be respected; there being'So much super¬
stition in it, as -d Crato notes, and so many differences in Galen,
that he dares say tliey may not be observed,, or understood of
any man.
Theirurine is most part pale, and low coloured purina pauca,
aeris, biliosa (Aretaeus), not much in quantity. But this, in my
judgement, is all out as uncertain as the other, varying so often
according- to several persons, habits, and other occasions not to
be respected in chronick diseases. e Their melancholy excre¬
ments, in some very much, m others little, as the spleen plays his
part ; and thence proceeds wind, palpitation of the heart, short
breath, plenty of humidity in the stomach, heaviness of heart and
heartake, and intolerable stupidity and dulness of spirits; their
excrements or stool hard, black to some, and little. If the
a In Pantheon, cap. de melancholia. _ b Alvus arida nihil dejiciens : cibi capaces,
nihilo minus tamen extenuati snnt. c Nic. Piso. Inflatio carotiduin, &c._ d An-
dreas Dndith Rahamo. ep. lib. 3. Crat. epist. Multa in pulsibus superstitio ; ansim
etiam dicere, tot differentias, quae describuntur a Galeno, neqne intelligi a quoquam
nec observari posse. e T. Bright, cap. 20.
269
Mein. 1. Subs. 2.] Symptomes in the Mind.
heart, brain, liver, spleen, be misaffected, as usually they are,
many inconveniences proceed from them, many diseases ac¬
company, as incubus, a apoplexy, epilepsie, vertigo, those
frequent wakings and terrible dreams, bintempestive laughing,
weeping1, sighing, sobbing, bashfulness, blushing, trembling,
sweating, swouning, &e. c All their senses are troubled : they
think they see, hear, smell, and touch that which they do not,
as shall be proved in the following discourse.
SUBSECT. II.
Symptomes or Signes in the Mind.
i^ear.] ArCULANUS {in 9 Rhasis adAlmansor.cap. 16)
will have these symptomes to be infinite, as indeed they are,
varying according to the parties ; for scarce is there one of a
thousand that dotes alike (d Laurentius, c. 16). Some few of
greater note I will point at; and, amongst the rest, fearand sor¬
row, which as theyare frequent causes, so if they persevere long,
according to Hippocrates e and Galens Aphorismes, they are
most assured signs, inseparable companions, and characters of
melancholy ; of present melancholy, and habituated, saith Mou-
taltus (c. 11) , and common to them all, as the said Hippocrates,
Galen, Avicenna, and all neotericks, hold. But, as hounds
many times run away with a false cry, never perceiving them¬
selves to be at fault, so do they : for Diodes of old, (whom
Galen confutes) and, amongst the juniors, f Hercules de Saxo-
nia, with Lod. Mercatus, {cap. 17- l- 1. demelan.) take just
exception at this aphorism of Hippocrates; ’tis not alwayes
true, or so generally to be understood: fear and sorrow are no
common symptomes to all melancholy : upon more serious con¬
sideration, I find some (saith he) that are not so at all. Some
indeed are sad, and not fearful ; some fearful and not sad ;
some neither fearful nor sad; some both. Four kinds he ex¬
cepts, fanatical persons, such as were Cassandra, Manto, Nico-
strata, Mopsus, Proteus, the Sibylls,whom g Aristotle confesseth
to have been deeply melancholy. Baptista Porta seconds him
a Post 40. aatat annum, saith Jacchinus, in 15. 9. Rhasis. Idem Mercnrialis, consil.
86. Trincavellius, tom. 2. cons. 1. b Gordon! us. Modo rident, modo flent, silent,
&c. cFernelius, consil. 43. et. 45. Montanus, consil. 230. Galen, de locis affectis,
lib. 3. cap. 6. d Aphorism, et lib. d.e Melan. e Lib. 2. cap. 6. de locis affect.
Timor et moestitia, si diutius perseverent, &c. _ Tract, postnmo de Melan. edit.
Venetiis 1620, . per Bolzuttam bibliop. Mihi diligentius hanc rem consideranti, patet
quosdam esse, qoi non laborant mosrore et timore. g Prab. lib. 3.
270
Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
(Physiog. lib . 1 . cap. 8) : they wer eatrd bileperciti. Demo¬
niacal persons, and such as speak strange languages, are of this
rank; some poets; such as laugh alwayes, and think themselves
kings, cardinals, &c. sanguine they are, pleasantly disposed
most part, and so continue. aJBaptista Porta confines fear and
sorrow to them that are cold ; but lovers, Sibylls, enthusiasts,
he wholly excludes. So that I think I may truly conclude, they
are notalwayessad and fearful,but usually so, and that ^without
a cause : timent de non timendis (Gordonius), quceque momenti
non sunt : although not all alike , (saith Altomarus) c yet all
likely fear , d some with an extraordinary and a mighty fear
(Aretaeus). e Many fear death, and yet, in a contrary humour ,
make away themselves (Galen, lib. 3. de loc. affect, cap. 7).
Some are afraid that heaven will fall on their heads; some, they
are damned, or shall be. f They are troubled with scruples of
conscience, distrusting .Gods mercies, think they shall go
certainly to hell, the devil will have them, and make great
lamentation (Jason Pratensis). Fear of devils, death, that
they shall be so sick of some such or such disease, ready to
tremble at every object, they shall dye themselves forthwith, or
that some of their dear friends or near allies are certainly dead ;
imminent danger, loss, disgrace still torment others, &c. that
they are all glass, and therefore will suffer no man to come near
them ; that they are all cork, as light as feathers; others as heavy
as lead; some are afraid their heads will fall off their shoulders;
that they have frogs in their bellies, &c. gMontanus (consil. 23)
speaks of one that durst not walk alone from home, for fear
he should swoon or die. A second h fears every man he
meets will rob him, quarrel with him, or kill him. A third
dares not venture to walk alone, for fear he should meet the
devil, a thief, be sick; fears all old women as witches; and
every black dog or cat he sees, he suspecteth to be a devil ;
every person comes near him is malificiated ; every creature, all
intend to hurt him, seek his ruine: another dares not go over
a bridge, come near a pool, rock, steep hill, lye in a cham¬
ber where cross beams are, for fear he be tempted to hang,
drown, or precipitate himself. If he be in silent auditory, as
atasermon,heis afraid he shall speak aloud, at unawares, some
a Physiog. lib. 1. c. 8. Quibus multa frigida bills atra, stolidi et timidi; at qui ca-
lidi, ingeniosi, amasii, divinosi, spiritu instigati, &c. b Ornnes exercent metus et
tristitia, et sine caussa. c Omnes timent, licet non omnibus idem timendi modns.
Aetins, Tetrab. lib. 2. sect. c. 9. d Ingenti pavore trepidant. - e Multi mortem
timent, et tamen sibiipsis mortem consciscunt : alii coeli ruinam timent. fAffiigit
eos plena scropnlis conscientia ; divinae 'misericordiffi difiSdentes, Oreo se destinant,
foeda lamentatione deplorantw^ g Non ansus egredi domo, ne deficeret b Multi
daemoaes timent, latrones, insiaias. Avicenna.
Mem; 1. Subs. 2.] Symptomes in the Mind.
271
thing' undecent, unfit to be said. If he be locked in a close
room, he is afraid of being stifled for want of air, and still carries
bisket, aquavitae, or some strong waters about him, for fear of
deliquiums, or being sick; or, if he be in a throng, middle of •
a church, multitude, where he may not well get out, though
he sit at ease, he is so misaffected. He will freely promise,
undertake any business beforehand; but, when it comes to be
performed, he dares not adventure, but fears an infinite number
of dangers, disasters, &c. Some are a afraid to be burned, or
that the b ground will sink under them, or c swallow them
quick, or that the king will call them in question for some fact
they never did , ( Rhasis, cont.) and that they shall surely be
executed. The terror of such a death troubles them ; and
they fear as much, and are equally tormented in mind, d as
t hey that have committed a murder ; and are pensive without
a cause, as if they were now presently to be put to death.
(Plater, cap. 3. de mentis alienat .) They are afraid of some
loss, danger, that they shall surely lose their lives, goods, and
all they have ; but why, they know not. Trincavellius ( con -
sit. 13. lib. V) had a patient that would needs make away
himself, for fear of being hanged, and could not be perswaded,
for three years together, but that he had killed a man. Plater
\obserrvat. lib. 1) hath two other examples of such as feared to
be executed without a cause. If they come in a place where a
robbery, theft, or any such offence, hath been done, they pre¬
sently fear they are suspected, and many times betray them¬
selves without a cause. Lewis the eleventh, the French king,
suspected every man a traitour that came about him, durst
trust no officer. Alii formidolosi omnium, alii quorumdam,
(Fracas torius, lib. 2. de Intellect.) e some fear all alike, some
certain men, and cannot endure their companies, are sick in
them, or if they be from home. Some suspect f treason still;
others are afraid of their s dearest and nearest friends (Me-
lanelius e Galeno, RufFo, Aetio), and dare not be alone in the
dark, for fear of hobgoblins and devils: he suspects every thing
, he hears or sees to be a devil, or enchanted, and imagineth
a thousand chimeras and visions, which to his thinking he
certainly sees, bugbears, talks with black men, ghosts, gob¬
lins, &c.
b Omnes se terrent auras, sonus excitat omnis.
a Alii comburi, alii de rege. Rhasis. _ jbNe terra absorbeantor. Forestns.
c Ne terra dehiscat. Gordon. d Alii timore mortis tenentur, et mala gratia
principom ; pulant se aliqoid commisisse, et ad sopplicium requiri. e Alios do¬
me sticos timet, alios omnes. Aetius. £Alii timent insidias. Aurel. lib. 1. de
morb^chron. c. 6. elite carissimos, hie omnes homines citra discrimen, timet,
i Virgil.
272 Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1 . Sec. 2.
Another through bashfnlness, suspicion, and timorousness,
will not be seen abroad, a love darkness as life, and cannot
endure the light, or to sit in lightsome places; his hat still in
his eyes, he will neither see, nor be seen by his good will (Hip¬
pocrates, lib. de insania et melancholia). He dare not come
in company, for fear he should be misused, disgraced, over¬
shoot himself in gesture or speeches, or be sick; bethinks
every man observes him, aims at him, derides him, owes him
malice. Most part, h they are afraid they are bewitched,
possessed or poisoned by their enemies; and sometimes they
suspect their nearest friends : he thinks something speaks or
talks within him, or to him ; and he belcheth of the poyson.
Christophorus a V ega {lib. 2. cap. 1) had a patient so troubled,
that by no perswasion or physick he could be reclaimed. Some
are afraid that they Shall have every fearful disease they
see others have, hear of, or read, and dare not therefore hear
or read of any such subject, no not of melancholy it self, lest,
by applying to themselves that which they hear or: read, they
should aggravate and increase it. If they see one possessed,
bewitched, an epileptiek paroxysme, a man shaking with the
palsie, or giddy headed, reeling or standing in a dangerous
place, &c. for many dayes after, it runs in their minds; they
are afraid they shall be so too, they are in like danger, as Perk
(c. 12. se. 2.) well observes in his Cases of Cons, and many
times, by violence of imagination, they produce it. They
cannot endure to see any terrible object, as a monster, a man
executed, a carcase, hear the devil named, or any tragical re¬
lation seen, but they quake for fear ; Hecatas somniare sibi
videntur (Lucian) ; they dream of hobgoblins, and may not
get it out of their minds a long time after : they apply (as I have
said) all they hear, see, read, to themselves ; as c Felix Plater
notes of some young physicians, that study to cure diseases, catch
them themselves, will be sick, and appropriate all symptomes
they find related of others, to their own persons. And there¬
fore ( quod iterum moneo, licet nauseam paret lectori ; malo
decern potius verba , decies repeiita licet , abundare , quam
unum desiderari ) I would advise him that is actually melan¬
choly, not to read this tract of symptomes, lest he disquiet or
make himself for a time worse, and more melancholy than he
was before. Generally of them all take this — deinanibus semper
a Hie in lucem prodire timet, tenebrasque quant ; contra, ille caliginosa fugit.
t> Qnidam larvas et malos spiritns ab inimicis veneficiis et incantationibus sibi putant
objectari. Hippocrates. — Potiohem se veneficam sumpsisse putat; et de bac ruciare
sibi crebro videtur. Idem Montaltus, cap. 21. Aetins, lib. 2. et alii. Trallianus, 1. 1.
cap. 16. _ c Observat. 1. 1. Quando iis nil nocet, nisi quod muiieribus
273
Mem. 1. Subs. 2.] Symptomes in the Mind.
conqueruntur et timent, saith Aretseus ; they complain of toyes,
and fear a without a cause, and still think their melancholy to
be'most grievous ; nonesobad as they are; though it be nothing
in respect, yet never any man sure was so troubled, or in this
sort: as really tormented and perplexed, in as great an agony
for toyes and trifles (such things as they will after laugh at
themselves), as if they were most material and essential mat¬
ters indeed, worthy to be feared, and will not be satisfied.
Pacitie them for one, they are instantly troubled with some
other fear; alwayes afraid of something, which they foolishly
imagine or conceive to themselves, which never peradventure
was, never can be, never likely will be ; troubled in mind upon
every small occasion, unquiet, still complaining, grieving,
vexing, suspecting, grudging, discontent, and cannot be freed
So long as melancholy continues. Or, if their minds be more
quietfor the present, and they free from forraign fears, outward
accidents, yet their bodies are out of tune, they suspect some
part or other to be amiss ; now their head akes, heart, sto¬
mach, spleen, & c. is misaffected ; they shall surely have this
or that disease ; still troubled in body, mind, or both, and
through wind, corrupt phantasie, some accidental distemper,
continually molested. Yet for all this, (as b Jacchinus notes)
in dll other things they are wise, staid, discreet, and do no¬
thing unbeseeming their dignity, person, or place, this foolish,
ridiculous and childish fear excepted, which so much, so
continually tortures and crucifies their souls; like a barking
dog that alwayes bawls, but seldom bites, this fear ever mo-
lesteth, and, so long as melancholy lasteth, cannot be avoided.
Sorrow is that other character, and inseparable companion,
as individual as saint Cosmus and Damian, fidus Achates, as
all writers witness, a common symptome, a continual ; and
still without any evident cause, c mcerent omnes, and si roges
eos reddere caussam, .non possunt ; grieving still, but why,
they cannot tell: dgelasti, mcesti, cogitabundi, they look as
if they had newly come forth of Trophonius den; and, though
they laugh many times, and seem to be extraordinary: merry
(as they will by fits), yet extream lumpish again in an instant,
dull and heavy, semel et siniul merry and sad, but most part
sad:
d Si qua placent, abeunt ; inimiea tenacius heerent :
sorrow sticks by them still, continually gnawing as the vulture
a — timeo tamen, metnsqne caussse nescius caussa est metus. Heinsius, Austriaco.
b Cap. 15. in 9 Rhasis. In multis vidi : prater rationam semper aliqnid timent, in casteris
tamen optime se genmt, neque aliquid prater dignitatem committunt. c Alto-
maras, cap. 7. — Aretseus. Tristes sunt. dMant. Ecl. 1. .
274
Symptornes of Melancholy. {Part. 1. Sec. 3.
did a Tityus bowels ; and they cannot avoid it. No sooner are
theireyes open, but, after terrible and troubl esome dreams, tbeir
heavy hearts begin to sigh : they are still fretting, chafing, sigh¬
ing, grieving, complaining, finding faults, repining, grudging,
weeping, heautontimorumenoi, vexing themselves, bdisquieted in
mind, with restless, unquiet thoughts, discontent, either for
their own, other mens, or public affairs, such as concern them
not, things past, present, or to come : the remembrance of
some disgrace, loss, injury, abuse, &c. troubles them now,
being idle, afresh, as if it were new done ; they are afflicted
otherwise fpr some danger, loss, want, shame, misery, that will
certainly come as they suspect and mistrust. Lugubris Ate
frowns upon them, insomuch that Aretseus well calls it ango-
rem animi, a vexation of the mind, a perpetual agony. They
can hardly be pleased or eased, though in other mens opinion,
most happy. Go, tarry, run, ride,
c - post equitem sedet atra cura :
they cannot avoid this feral plague, let them come in what
company they will ; d hceret lateri letalis arundo ; as to a
deer that is struck, whether he run, go, rest, with the herd, or
alone, this grief remains ; irresolution, inconstancy, vanity of
mind, their fear, torture, care, jealousie, suspicion, &c. con¬
tinues, and they cannot be relieved. So e he complained in
the poet,
Domum revertor mcestus, atque animo fere
Perturbato atque incerto, prse segritudine.
Assido : accurrunt servi ; soccos detrahunt.
Video alios festinare, lectos sternere,
Ccenam apparare : pro se quisque sedulo
Faeiebant, quo illam mihi lenirent miseriam.
He came home sorrowfull,and troubled in his mind ; his servants
did all they possibly could to please him; one pulled off his
socks ; another made ready his bed, a third bis supper; all did
their utmost endeavours to ease his grief, and exhilarate his
person; he was profoundly melancholy; he had lost his son;
illud angebat; that was his cordolium, his pain, his agony, which
could not be removed. Hence it proceeds many times, that
they are weary of their lives ; and feral thoughts, to offer
violence to their own persons, come into their minds.
Tcedium vitce.] Tcedium vitce is a common symptome ; tarda
flaunt , ingrataquetempora ; they are soon tired with all things ;
they will nowtarry, now be gone ; now in bed they will rise, now
* Ovid. Met 4. b Inquies animus c Hor. 1. 3. Od. 1. dVirg,
eMened. Heautont. act. 1. sc. 1. . -
275
Mem. 1. Subs. 2.] Synvptomes in the Mind.
up, then go to bed, now pleased, then again displeased; now
they like, by and by dislike all, weary of all ; sequitur nunc
vivendi, nunc moriendi , cupido, saith Aurelianus {lib. 1 . cap. 6),
but, most part, &vitam damnant ; discontented, disquieted, per¬
plexed upon every light or no. occasion, object: often tempted,
1 say, to make away themselves : b vivere no hint, mori nesciunt :
they cannot dye, they will not live : they complain, weep, la¬
ment, and think they lead a most miserable life ; never was any
man so bad, or so before; every poor man they see is. more for¬
tunate in respect of them ; every beggar that comes to the door
is happier than they are ; they could be contented to change
lives with them ; especially if they be alone, idle, and parted
from their ordinary company, mol ested, displeased, or provoked,
grief, fear, agony, discontent, wearisomness, laziness, suspicion,
or some such passion, forcibly seizeth on them. Yet by and
by, when they come in company again, which they like, or be
pleased, suarn sententiam rursus damnant, et vitae solatio delec-
tantur (as Octavius Horatianus observes, lib. 2. cap. 5) ; they
condemn their former dislike, and are well pleased to live. And
so they continue, till with some fresh discontent they be mo¬
lested again ; and then they are weary of their lives, weary of
all ; they will dye, and shew rather a necessity to live, than
a desire. Claudius, the emperour, (as cSueton describes him)
had a spice of this disease ; for, when he was tormented with
the pain of his stomach, he had a conceit to make away him¬
self. Jul. Caesar Claudinus (consil. 84) had a Polonian to his
Eatient, so affected, that, through fear d and sorrow, with which
e was still disquieted, hated his own life, wished for death
. every moment, and to be freed of his misery. Mercurialis
another, and another that was often minded to dispatch him¬
self, and so continued for many years.
Suspicion. Jealousie.) Suspicion and jealousie are general
Anger sine caussa. 5 symptomes : they are commonly dis¬
trustful, timorous, apt to mistake, and amplifi e, facile iras-
cibiles, e testy, pettish, pievish, and ready to snarl upon every .
fsmall occasion, cum amicissimis, and without a cause, datum
vel non datum, it will be seandalum acceptum. If they speak
in jest, he takes it in good earnest. If they be not saluted, in¬
vited, consulted with, called to counsel, &c. or that any respect,
small complement, or ceremony, be omitted, they think
- a Altomarns. b Seneca. c Cap. 31. Quo (stomachi dolore) se correptnm
etiamde consciscendamorte cogitasse diiit dLuget,et semper tristatur, solitudmem
amat, mortem sibi precatur, vitam propriam odio habet. « Facile in iramincidnnt.
Aret. f Ira sine caussa ; velocitas irse. Savanarola, pract. major. Yelocitas irse
signnm. Avicenna, 1. 3. Fen. 1. tract. 4. cap. 18.
276 Symptomesof Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
themselves neglected and contemned; for a time that tortures
them. If two talk together, discourse, whisper, jest, or tell a
tale in general, he thinks presently they mean him, apply es all to
himself, de se putat omnia did. Or if they talk with him, he is
ready to misconstrue every word they speak, and interpret it to
the worst; he cannot endure any man to look steadily on him,
speak to. him almost, laugh, jest, or be familiar, or hemm, or
point, cough, or spit, or make a noise sometimes, &c. aHe
thinks they laugh or point at him, or do it in disgrace of him,
cireumvent him, contemn him ; every man looks at him, he is
pale, red, sweats For fear and anger, lest some body should ob¬
serve him. He works upon it ; and, long after this, this false
conceit of an abuse troubles him. Montanus (consil. 22) gives
instance in a melancholy Jew, that was iracundior Adria, so
waspish and suspicious, tarn facile iratus , that no man could
tell how to carry himself in his company.
Inconstancy Inconstant they are in all their actions, ver¬
tiginous, restless, unapt to resolve of any business ; they will and
will not, perswaded to and fro upon every small occasion or
word spoken; and yet, if once they be resolved, obstinate, hard
to be reconciled : if they abhor, dislike, or distaste, once setled,
though to the better by odds, by no counsel or perswasion to be
removed : yet, in mostthings, wavering, irresolute, unable to de¬
liberate, through faciunt, et moxfactipcenitet (Aretaeus);
avari et paullo post prodigi ; now prodigal, and then covetous,
they do, and by-and-by repent them of that which they have
done; so that both wayes they are troubled, whether they do
or do not, want or have, hit or miss, disquieted of all hands,
soon weary, and still seeking change; restless, I say, fickle,
fugitive, they may not abide to tarry in one place long,
b (Romsa rus optans, absentem rusticus urbem
Tollit ad astra- - )
no company long, or to persevere in any action or business ;
c (Et simiiis regum pueris, pappare minutum
Poscit, et iratus mammse lallare recusat)
eftsoons pleased, and anon displeased : as a man that’s bitten
with fleas, or that cannot sleep, turns to and fro in his bed,
their restless minds are tossed and vary ; they have no patience
to read out a book, to play out a game or two, walk a mile,
sit an hour, &c. erected and dejected in an instant ; animated
to undertake, and, upon a word spoken, again discouraged.
a Suspicio, diffidentia, symptomata. Crato, Ep. Julio Alexandripo, coas. 185..
Scoltzii. bHor. e Pers. Sat. 3.
277
Mem. 1. Subs. 2 ] Symptomes in the Mind.
Passionate Extream passionate, quidquid volunt, valde
volunt; and what they desire, they do most furiously seek:
anxious ever and very solicitous, distrustful and timorous, en¬
vious, malicious, profuse one while, sparing another, but most
part covetous, muttering, repining, discontent, and still com¬
plaining, grudging, pievish, injuriarum tenaces , prone to re¬
venge, soon troubled, and most violent in all their imaginations,
not affable in speech, or apt to vulgar complement, but surly,
dull, sad, austere; cogitabundi, still very intent, and as aAl-
bertus Durer paints Melancholy, like a sad woman, leaning on
her arm, with fixed looks, neglected habit, 8cc. held there¬
fore by some proud, soft, sottish, or half mad, as the Abderites
esteemed of Democritus ; and yet of a deep reach, excellent
apprehension, judicious, wise, and witty : for I am of that
b noblemans mind, melancholy advanceth mens conceits, more
than any humour whatsoever, improves their meditations more
than any strong drink or sack. They are of profound judge¬
ment in some things, although, in others, non recte judicant
inquieti , saith Fracastorius, (lib. 2. delntell.) and, as Arculanus
(c. 1 6. in 9 Rhasis ) terms it, judicium plerumque perversum,
corrupti, cum judicant honesta inhonesta, et amicitiam habent
pro inimicitid : they count honesty dishonesty, friends as
enemies ; they will abuse their best friends, and dare not
offend their enemies. Cowards most part, et ad inferendam
injuriam timidissimi, saith Cardan (lib. 8. cap. 4. de rerum
varietate ): loth to offend; and, if they chance to overshoot
themselves in word or deed, or any small business or cir¬
cumstance be omitted, forgotten, they are miserably tormented,
and frame a thousand dangers and inconveniences to them¬
selves, ear mused elephantem, if once they conceit it: over¬
joyed with every good humour, tale, or prosperous event, trans¬
ported beyond themselves; with every small cross again, bad
news, misconceived injury, loss, danger, afflicted beyond
measure, in great agony, perplexed, dejected, astonished, im¬
patient, utterly undone; fearful, suspicious of all : yet again,
many of them, desperate hare- brains, rash, careless, fit to be
assassinates, as being void of all fear and sorrow, according to
c Hercules de Saxonia, most audacious, and such as dare walk
alone in the night, through deserts and dangerous places, fear¬
ing none.
Amorous. ] They are prone to love , and deasie to be taken:
propensi adamorem et excandescentiam , (Montaltus, cap. 21.)
quickly inamored, and dote upon all, love one dearly, till they
a In Ms Dutch-work picture. .b Howard, cap. 7. differ. 0 Tract, de mel.
cap. 2. Noctu ambulant per-sylvas, et loca periculosa ; neminem timent. d Facile
amant Altom.
278
Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 3.;
see another, and then dote on her, et hane , et hane , et ilium, et
omnes ; the5 present moves most, and the last commonly they
love best. Y et some again, anterotes , cannot endure the sight
of a woman, abhor the sex, as that same melancholy aduke of
Muscovy, that was instantly sick, if he came but in sight of
them ; and that b anchorite, that fell into a cold palsie, when a
woman was brought before him.
Humorous.'] Humorous they are beyond all measure, some¬
times profusely laughing, extraordinary merry, and then again
weeping without a cause, (which is familiar with manygentle-
women)groaning,sigbing,pensive,sad,almost distracted : multa
absurdajingunt, et aratione aliena (saith cFrambesarius) ; they
feign many absurdities, vain, void of reason : one supposeth
himself to be a dog, cock, bear, horse, glass, butter, &c. He
is a giant, a dwarf, as strong as an hundred men, a lord, duke,
prince, &c. And, if he be told he hath a stinking breath, a
great nose, that he is sick, or inclined to such and such a dis¬
ease, he believes it eftsoons, and peradventure, by force of
imagination, will work it out. Many of them are immoveable,
and fixed in their conceits; others vary, upon every object
heard or; seen. If they see a stage- play, they run upon that
a week after; if they hear musick, or see dancing, they have
nought but bag-pipes in their brain : if they see a combat,
they are all for arms : dif abused, an abuse troubles them long
after : if crossed, that cross, &c. Restless in their thoughts
and actions, continually meditating,
— - velut segri somnia, vatise
Finguntur species ;
more like dreamers than men awake, they feign a company of
antick, fantastical conceits; they have most frivolous thoughts,
impossibleto be effected.; andsometimes think verily they hear
ana see present before their eyes such phantasms or goblins,
they fear, suspect, or conceive, they still talk with, and follow
them. In fine, cogitationes somniantibus similes, id vigilant,
quod alii somniant,cogitabundi ; still (saith Avicenna,) they wake,
as others dream ; and such, for the most part, are their imagina¬
tions and conceits, e absurd, vain, foolish toyes ; yet they are
fmost curious and solicitous; continually et supra madum
(Rhasis, cont. lib. 1. cap. 9.) preemeditantur de aliqua re: As,
serious in a toy, as if it were a most necessary business, of
a Bodine. b Jo. Major vitis patrum, fol. 202. Paullus abbas, eremita, tanta
solitudine perseverat, ut nee vestem nee vultum mulieris ferre possit, &c. .c Con¬
sult. lib. 1.17. Cons. d Generally, as they are pleased or displeased, so are
their continual cogitations pleasing or displeasing. e Omnes exercent van®
intensseque animi cogitationes, (N, Piso. Bruel.) et assidns. f Curiosi de rebus
minimis. Arete us.
§79
Mem. 1. Subs. §.] Symptomes in the Mind.
great moment, importance, and still, still, still thinking’ of it,
sceviunt in se, macerating themselves. Though they do talk
with you, and seem to be otherwise employed, and, to your
thinking, very intent and busie, still that toy runs in their
mind, that fear, that suspicion, that abuse, that jealousie, that
agony, that vexation, that cross, that castle in the air, that
crotchet, that whimsie, that fiction, that pleasant waking
dream, whatsoever it is. Nec interrogant (saith aFracastorius,
necinterrogati recte respondent ; they do not much heed what
you say; their mind is on another matter. Ask what you will ;
they do not attend, or much intend that business they are about,
but forget themselves what they are saying, doing, or should
otherwise say or do, whither they are going, distracted with
their own melancholy thoughts. One laughs upon a sudden,
another smiles to himself, a third frowns, calls, his lips go
still, he acts with his hands as he walks, Sec. ’Tis proper to
all melancholy men (saith bMercurialis, con. 11), what conceit
they have once entertained , to be most intent, violent , and con¬
tinually about it. Invitis occurit ; do what they may, they
cannot be rid of it; against their wills they must think of it a
thousand times over ; perpetuo molest antur, nec oblivisci pos-
sunt ; they are continually troubled with it, in company, out
of company : at meat, at exercise, at all times and places, cnon
desinunt ea, quce minime volunt, cogitare ; if it be offensive
especially, they cannot forget it; they may not rest or sleep
for it, but, still tormenting themselves, Sisyphi saxum volvunt
sibi ipsis , as d Brunner observes : perpetua calamitas, et mise¬
rable flagellum.
j Bashfulness.] e Crato, f Laurentius, and Fernelius, put
bashful ness for an ordinary symptome; subrusticus pudor, or
vitiosus pudor, is a thing which much haunts and torments
them. If they have been misused, derided, disgraced, chidden,
&c. or, by any perturbation of mind, misaffected, it so far
troubles them, that they become quite moped many times, and
so disheartned, dejected, they dare not come abroad, into
strange companies especially, or manage their ordinary affairs ;
so childish, timorous, and bashful, they can look no man in
the face. Some are more disquieted in this kind, some less,
longer some, others shorter, by fits, &e. though some, on the
other side (according to § Fracastorius), be invereCundi et
pertinaces , impudent and pievish. But, most part, they are
very shamefac’d ; and that makes them (with Pet. Blesensis,
a Lib. 2. de lntell. b Hoc melancholicis omnibus proprinm, at,
quas semel imaginationes valde receperint, non facile rejiciant, sed has etiam vel invitis
semper occurrant. c Tullius de sen. d Consil. med. pro Hvpochondriaco.
* Consul. 43. f Cap. 5. z Lib. 2. de lntell.
VOL, I.
D D
280
Sympiom.es of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 2.
Christopher Urswick, and many such) to refuse honours,
offices, and preferments, which sometimes fall into their
mouths: they cannot speak, or put forth themselves, as others
can ; timor hos,pudor impedit illos ; timorousness and bashful¬
ness hinder their proceedings ; they are contented with their
present estate, unwilling' to undertake any office, and therefore
never likely to rise. For that Cause they seldome visit their
friends, except some familiars paiiciloqui, of few words, and
oftentimes wholly silent. a Frambesarius, a Frenchman, had
two such patients, omnino tadturnos ; their friends could not
get them to speak : Hodericus aFonseca ( consult . Tom. 2. 85.
consil.) gives instance in a young man, of twenty seven years
of age, that was frequently silent, bashful, moped, solitary,
that would not eat his meat, or sleep, and yet again by fits
apt to be angry, &c.
Solitariness.] Most part they are (as Plater notes), desides,
taciturni, cegreimpulsi, nec nisi coqcti propedunt, ^-c. they will
scarce be compelled to do that which concerns them, though
it be for their good ; so diffident, so dull, of so small or no
complement, unsociable, hard to be acquainted with, especially
of strangers ; they had rather write their minds, than speak,
and above all things love solitariness. Ob voluptatem, an oh
timor em9 soli sunt t Are they so solitary for pleasure (one
asks), or pain? for both : yet I rather think, for fear and
sorrow, &c.
b Hinc metuunt, cupiuntque, dolent, fugiuntque, nec auras
Respiciunt, clausi tenebris, et carcere ceeco.
Hence ’tis they grieve and fear, avoiding light.
And shut themselves in prison dark from sight.
As Bellerophon in c Homer,
Qui miser in sylvis moerens errabat opacis.
Ipse suum cor edens, hominum vestigia vitans—
That wandred in the woods, sad, all alone.
Forsaking mens society, making great moan— •
they delight in floods and waters, desert places, to walk alone
in orchards, gardens, private walks, back-lanes ; averse from
company, as Diogenes in his tub, or Timon Misanthropus,
d they abhor all companions at last, even their nearest ac¬
quaintance, and most familiar friends ; for they have a conceit
(I say), every man observes them, will deride, laugh to scorn,
or misuse them; confining themselves therefore wholly to their
private houses or c\m.mheY&,fuymnt homines sine caussd (saith
aConsil. 15 et 16. lib. 1. b Virg. i£n. 6. c Iliad. 6. d Si malms
exasperatnr, homines'odio habent, et soliiaria petunt.
281
Mem. 1. Subs. 2.] Symptomes in the Mind.
Rhasis) et odio habent (cont. 1. 1. e. 9): they will dyet them¬
selves, feed and live alone. It was one of the ehiefest reasons,
why the citizens of Abdera suspected Democritus to be melan¬
choly and mad, because that (as Hippocrates related in his
epistle to Philopcemenes) a he forsook the city , and lived in
groves and hollow trees , upon a green bank by a brook side ,
or confluence of waters, all day long , and all night. Quce
quidem (saith he) plurbnum atrd bile vexatis et melancholicis
eveniunt ; desertafrequentant, hominumque congressum aver-
santur ; b which is an ordinary thing with melancholy men.
The ^Egyptians therefore, in their hieroglyphicks, expressed a
melancholy man by a hare sitting in her form, as being a most
timorous and solitary creature (Pierius, Hieroglyph, t. 12).
But this and all precedent symptomes are more or less appa¬
rent, as the humour is intended or remitted, hardly perceived
in some, or not at all, most manifest in others. Childish in
some, terrible in others ; to be derided in one, pitied or admired
in another ; to him by fits, to a second continuate : and, how¬
soever these symptomes be common and incident to all persons,
yet they are the more remarkable, frequent, furious, and vio¬
lent in melancholy men. To speak in a word, there is nothing
so vain, absurd, ridiculous, extravagant, impossible, incredible,
so monstrous a chimaera, so prodigious and strange, °such as
painters and poets durst not attempt, which they will notreally
fear, fain, suspect, and imagine unto themselves : and that
which dLod. Viv. said in jest of a silly countrey fellow, that
kill’d his ass for drinking' up the moon, ut lunam mundo red -
deret; you may truly say of them in earnest : they will act,
conceive all extreams, contrarieties, and contradictions, and
that in infinite varieties. Melancholici plane incredibilia sibi
persuadent, ut vix omnibus sceculis duo reperti sint, qui idem,
imaginatisint (Erastus, de Lanins) ; scarce two of two thousand
that concur in the same symptomes. The tower of Babel never
yielded such confusion of tongues, as this chaos of melancholy
doth variety of symptomes. There is in all melancholy simili¬
tude dissimilis, like mens faces, a disagreeing likeness still ;
and as, in a river, we swim in the same place, though not
in the same numerical water ; as the same instrument affords
several lessons, so the same disease yields diversity of sym¬
ptomes; which howsoever they be diverse, intricate, and hard
to be confined, I will adventure yet, in such a vast confusion
a Bemoeritus solet noctes et dies apod se degere, plerumque autem in speluncis; sub
amoenis arborum umbris vel in tenebris, et mollibus herbis, vel ad aquarum crebra et
quieta fiuenta, &e. b Gaudet tenebris, aliturqne dolor. Ps. 62. Vigilavi, et
factos sum velnt nycticorax in domicilio, passer solitarius in templo. c Et, qua
vix audet fabula, monstra parit. dIn cap. 18. L 10. de civ. Dei. Lunam ab
asino epotam widens.
» D 2
282
Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
and generality, to bring them into some order; and so de¬
scend to particulars.
SUBSECT. III.
Particular Symptomes from the influence of Stars; parts of
the body , and humours .
Some men have peculiar symptomes, according to their
temperament and crisis, which they had from the stars and
those celestial influences, variety of wits and dispositions, as
Anthony Zara contends (Anat. ingen. sect. X.memb. 11, 12,
13, 14.J, plurimum irritant influentice c celestes, unde cientur
animi cegritudines, et morbi corporum. a One saith, diverse
diseases of the body and mind proceed from their influences,
b as I have already proved out of Ptolemy, Pontanus,, Lem-
nius, Cardan, and others, as they are principal significators of
manners, diseases, mutually irradiated, or lords of the geniture,
&c. Ptolemaeus, in his Centiloquy, (or Hermes, or whosoever
else the author of that tract,) attributes all these symptomes,
which are in melancholy men, to celestial influences; which
opinion Mercurialis [de affect, lib. 1. cap. 10) rejects : but, as
I say, c Jovian us Pontanus and others stilly defend. That some
are solitary, dull, heavy, churlish ; some again blith, buxom,
light and merry, they ascribe wholly to the stars. As, if
Saturn be predominant in his nativity, and cause melancholy
in his temperature, then dhe shall be very austere, sullen,
churlish, black of colour, profound in his cogitations, full of
cares, miseries, and discontents, sad and fearful, alwayes
silent, solitary, still delighting in husbandry, in woods, or¬
chards, gardens, rivers, ponds, pools, dark walks and close;
cogitationes sunt velle cedificare, velle arbores plantare, agros
colere, Sf-c. to catch birds, fishes, &c. still contriving and
musing of such matters. If Jupiter domineers, they are more
ambitious, still meditating of kingdoms, magistracies, offices,
honours, or that they are princes, potentates, and how they
would carry themselves, &c. — if Mars, they are all for wars,
hrave combats, monomachies, testy, cholerick, hare-brain’d,
rash, furious, and violent in their actions: they will fain
themselves victors, commanders, are passionate and satyrical
in their speeches, great braggers, ruddy of colour : and though
they be poor in shew? vile and base, yet, like Telephus and
Peleus in the e poet,
Ampullas j actant, et sesquipedalia verba ;
' a V elc. 1. 4. «. 5. b Sect.' 2. Memb. L Subs. 4. «De reb. coelest.
Jib. 10. c. 131 dj. de Iodagiae Goclemos. e Her. de Art Poet.
283
Mem. I. Subs. 3.] Symptomes from the Stars , Sf-c.
their mouths are full of myriades,and tetrarchs at their tongues
end : — if the Sun, they will be lords, emperours, in conceit at
least, and monarchs, give offices, honours, &c. — if Venus, they
are still courting of their mistresses, and most apt to love,
amorously given ; they seem to hear musick, playes, see fine
pictures, dancers, merriments, and the like— ever in love, and
dote on all they see. Mercurialists are solitary, much in
contemplation, subtiie, poets, philosophers, and musing most
part about such matters. If the Moon have a hand, they are
all for peregrinations, sea-voyages, much affected with travels,
to discourse, read, meditate of such things ; wandring in their
thoughts, divers, much delighting in waters, to fish, fowl, &c.
But the most immediate symptomes proceed from the
temperature it self, and organi cal parts, as head, liver, spleen,
mesaraick veins, heart, womb, stomach, &c. and most espe¬
cially from distemperature of spirits (which, as ^Hercules de
Saxonia contends, are wholly immaterial), or from the four
humours in those seats, whether they be hot or cold, natural,
unnatural, innate or adventitious, intended or remitted, simple
or mixt, their diverse mixtures, and several adustions, com¬
binations, which may be as diversly varied, as those bfour first
qualities in cClavius, and produce as many several symptomes
and monstrous fictions as wine doth effects, which (as Andreas
Bachius observes, lib. '3, de vino, cap. ' .20) -are infinite. Of
greater note be these.
If it be natural melancholy (as Lod. Mercatus, lib. 1. cap.
17. de melan. T. Bright, c. 16. hath largely described) either
of the spleen, or of the veins, faulty by excess of quantity, or
thickness of substance, it is a cold and dry humour, as Mon -
tanus affirms (consil. 26) ; the parties are sad, timorous, and
fearful. Prosper Calenus, in his book de atra bile, will have
them to he more stupid than ordinary, cold, heavy, dull,
solitary, sluggish, si mult am atram bilern etfrigidam habent.
Hercules de Saxonia (e. 19. 1. 7 )dholds these that are naturally
melancholy, to be of a leaden colour or black, (and so doth
Guianerius, c. 3. tract. 15), and such as think themselves dead
many times, or that they see, talk with, black men, dead men,
spirits and goblins frequently, if it be in excess. These sym¬
ptomes vary according to the mixture of these four humours
adust, which is unnatural melancholy. For (as Trallianus
hath written, cap. 16. 1. 7) e there is not one cause of this
a Tract. 7. de Melan. b Humidnm, calidum, frigidum, siccnm. c Com.
in 1. c. Johannis de Sacrobosco. d Si residet melancholia naturalis, tales plumbei
coloris ant nigri, stupidi, shlitarii. e X~on nna meiancholise cacssa est, nec nnus
humor vitii parens, sed plnres, et alius aliter mutatus : unde non omnes eadem sen-
tiunt symptomata.
284
Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. S.
melancholy, nor one humour which begets it, hut divers diver sly
intermixt;from whence proceeds this variety of symptomes; and
those varying again as they are hot or cold. 11 Cold melancholy
(saith Benedic. vittoriusFaventinus, prac.mag.) is a cause of
dotage, and more mild symptomes ; if hot or more adust, of more
\ violent passions, and furies. Fraeastorius (/. 2. de intellect.)
will have us to consider well of it, b with what kind of melan¬
choly every one is troubled ; for it much avails to know it : one
is inraged by fervent heat ; another is possessed by sad and cold;
one is fearful, shamfadt; the other impudent and bold, as Ajax,
Arma rapit, Superdsque furens in proglia poscit ;
quite mad, or tending to madness ; nunc hos, nuncimpetitillos.
Bellerophon, on the other side, solis errat male sanus in agris,
wanders alone in the woods : one despairs, weeps, and is
weary of his life ; another laughs, &c. All which variety is
produced from the several degrees of heat and cold, which
c Hercules de Saxonia will have wholly proceed from the
distemperature of spirits alone, animal especially, and those
immaterial, the next and immediate causes of melancholy, as
they are hot, cold, dry, moist ; and from their agitation pro¬
ceeds that diversity of symptomes, which he reckons up, in
the d thirteenth chapter of his Tract of Melancholy, and that
largely through every part. Others will have them come from
the divers ad usti on of the four humours, which, in this un¬
natural melancholy, by corruption of blood, adust choler or
melancholy natural, *by excessive distemper of heat, turned, in
comparison of the natural,into a sharp lye by force of adustion,
cause, according to the diversity of their matter, diverse and,
strange symptomes , which T. Bright reckons up in his follow--
ing chapter. So doth f Arculanns, according to the four
principal humours adust, and many others.
For example, if it proceeds from flegm (which is seldom
and not so frequent as the rest) §it stirs up dull symptomes,
and a kind of stupidity, or impassibnate hurt : they are
sleepy, saith hSavanarola, dull, slow, cold, blockish, ass-like,
asininam melancholiam, iMelancthon calls it, they are much
given to weeping, and delight in waters, ponds, pools, rivers,
fishing, fowling, $*c. (Arnoldus, breviar. 1. cap. 18) they are
a Hnmor frigidus delirii caussa, humor calidus furoris. f> Multom refert qua
qnisque melancholia teneatur ; hunc feryens et accensaagitat ; ilium tristis et frigens
occupat: hi tirnidi, illi inverecundi, intrepidi, &c. ‘ c Cap. 7. et 8. Tract, de
Mel. d Signa melancholia ex intemperie et agitatione spirituum sine
materia. f=T. Bright, cap. 16. Treat. Mel. , _ f Cap. 16. in 9. Rhasis.
S Bright, e. 16. h Pract. major. .. Somnians, piger, frigidus. > De
animi cap. de humor. Si a phlegmate, semper , in aquis fere sunt, et circa fluyios
plorant multum, &c.
285
Mem. 1 . Subs. 3.] Symptomes from the Stars , frc.
apale of colour, slothful, apt to sleep, heavy; b much troubled .
with the head-ach, continual meditation* and muttering to
themselves; they dream of waters, cthat they are in danger
of drowning, and fear such things (Rhasis) . They are fatter
than others that are melancholy, of a muddy complexion,
apter to spit, sleep, dmore troubled with rheum than the rest,
and have their eyes still fixed on the ground. Such a patient
had Hercules de Saxonia, a widow in Venice, that was fat and
very sleepy still, Christophorus a Vega, another affected in the
same sort. If it be inveterate or violent, the symptomes are
more evident, they plainly dote and are ridiculous to others, in
all their gestures, actions, speeches: imagining impossibilities,
as he in Christophorus a Vega, that thought he was a tun of
wine, e and that Siennois, that resolved with himself not to
piss, for fear he should drown all the town.
If it proceeds from blood adust, or that there be a mixture
of blood in it, f such are commonly ruddy of complexion, and
high-coloured, according to Sallust Salvianus and Hercules
de Saxonia; and, as Savanarola, Vittorius Faventinus Empir.
farther add, § the veins of their eyes be red, as well as their
faces. They are much inclined to laughter, witty and merry,
conceited in discourse, pleasant, if they be not far gone, much
given to musick, dancing, and to be in womens company.
They meditate wholly on such things, and think h they see
or hear plages, dancing, and such like sports (free from all fear
and sorrow, as Hercules de Saxonia supposeth) if they be
more strongly possessed with this kind of melancholy (Ar-
noldus adds, Breviar. lib. 1. cap. 18), like him of Argos, in
the poet, that sate laughing k all day long, as if he had been at
a theatre. Such another is mentioned by 1 Aristotle living- at
Abydos, a town of Asia Minor, that would sit after the same
fashion, as if he had been upon a stage, and sometimes act
himself ; now clap his hands, and laugh, as if he had been well
pleased with the sight. Wolfius relates of a countrey fellow,
called Brunsellius, subject to this humour, m that being by
chance at a sermon, saw a woman fall off from a, form half
a Pigra nascitur ex colore pallido et alho. Her. de Saxon. h Savanarola.
cMuros cadere in se, ant submergi, timent, cum torpore-et segnitie, et fiavios amant
tales. Alexand. c. 16. lib. 7. d Semper fere dormit somnolenta, c. 16. 1. 7.
eLanrentius. f Cap. 6. de mel. Si a sanguine, venit rubedo oculorum et faciei,
plurimus risus. S Vense oculorum sunt rubras ; vide an prsscesserit vini
et aromatum usus, et frequens balneum. Trallian. lib. 1. 16. an preecesserit mora sub
sole. - & Bidet patiens, si a sanguine ; putat se videre choreas, mnsicam audire,
ludos, &c. > Cap. 2. Tract, de Melan. kHor. ep. lib. 2. Quidam baud
ignobilis Argis, &c. !Lib. de reb. mir. m Cum, inter concionandum, rnulier
dormiens e subsellio caderet, et omnes reliqui, qui id viderent, riderent, tribus post
diebus, &c.
286
Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
asleep ; at which object most of the company laughed ; hut he,
for his part, was so much moved, that, for three whole daies
after lie did nothing hut laugh ; by which means he was much
weakned , and worse a long time following. Such a one was
old Sophocles ; aud Democritus himself had hilare delirium,
much iu this vein. Laureiitius (cap. 3. de melan .) thinks this
kind of melancholy which is a little adust with some mixture
of blood, to be that which Aristotle meant, when he said
melancholy men of all others are most witty, which causeth
many times a divine ravishment, and a kind of enthusiasmus,
which stirreth them up to be excellent philosophers, poets,
prophets, &c. Mereurialis (consil. 1 10) gives instance in a
young man his patient, sanguine melancholy, a of a great wit
and excellently learned.
If it arise, from choler adust, they are bold and impudent,
and of a more hair-brain disposition, apt to quarrel, and think
of such things, battels, combats, and their manhood ; furious,
impatient in discourse, stiff, irrefragable and prodigious in
their tenents ; and, if they be moved, most violent, outrageous,
b ready to disgrace, provoke any, to kill themsel ves and others;
Arnoldus adds, stark mad by fits ; c they sleep little, their
urine is subtle and fiery ; (Guianerius) in their fits you shall
hear them speak all manner of languages, Hebrew, Greek, and
Latine, that never were taught or knew them before. Appo-
nensis (in com. in Pro. sec. 30) speaks of a mad woman that
spake excellent good Latine ; and Rhasis knew another, that
could prophesie in her fit, and foretel things truly to come.
d Guianerius had a patient could make Latine verses when the
moon was combust, otherwise illiterate. Avicenna and some
of his adherents will have these symptomes, when they happen,
to proceed from the devil, and that they are rath er dcembniaci,
possessed, than mad or melancholy, or both together, as
Jason Pratensis thinks ; immisceni se mali genii, $*e. but most
ascribe it to the humour; wrhich opinion Montaltus (cap. 2 1)
stifly maintains, confuting* Avicenna and the rest, referring it
wholly to the quality and disposition of the humour and sub¬
ject. Cardan {de rerum var. lib. 8. cap. 10) holds these men,
of all others, fit to be assassinates, bold, hardy, fierce, and
adventurous, to undertake any thing by reason of their choler
adust. e This humour, saith he, prepares them to endure death
itself, and all manner of torments, with invincible courage; and
a Jnvenis, et non vulgaris eruditionis. j> Si a cholera, furibundi interficiunt
seet alios; putant se videre pugnas. <= Urina subtilis et ignea; parum dormiant.
a Tract. 15. c. 4. e Ad hsec perpetranda furore rapti ducuntor ; cruciatus quosvis
tolerant, et mortem ; et furore exacerbato audent, et ad supplicia plus irritantur ; niirum
est, quantam habeant in tormentis patientiam.
287
Mem. 1. Subs. 3.] Symptomes from the Stars, fyc.
'tis a wonder to see with what alacrity they will undergo such
tortures, ut supra naturam res videatur : he ascribes this ge¬
nerosity, fury, or rather stupidity, to this adustion of choler
and melancholy : but I take these rather to be mad or des- -
perate, than properly melancholy : for commonly this humour,
so adust and hot, degenerates into madness.
If it come from melancholy it self adust, those men (saith
Avicenna3) are usually sad and solitary , and that continually ,
and in excess, more than ordinary suspicious , more fearful,
and have long, sore , and most corrupt imaginations; cold and
black, bashful, and so solitary, that (as b Arnoldus writes) they
will endure no company; they dream of graves still, and dead
men , and think themselves bewitched or dead: if it be extream,
they think they hear hideous noyses, see and talk cwith black
men, and converse familiarly with devils ; and such strange
chimeras and visions (Gordonius), or that they are possessed
by them, that some body talks to them, or within them. Tales
melancholici plerumque dcemoniaci (Montaltus, consil. 26. ex
Avicenna). Valescus de Taranta had such a woman in cure,
d that thought she had to do with the devil: and GentilisFul-
gosus ( qucest . 55) writes that he had a melancholy friendVthat
e had a black mart in the likeness of a souldier, still following
him wheresoever he was. Laurentius (cap. 7) hath many
stories of such as have thought themselves bewitched by their
enemies ; and some that would eat no meat, as being dead.
f Anno 1550, an advocate of Paris fell into such a melancholy
fit, that he believed verily he was dead ; he could not be per-
swaded otherwise, or to eat or drink, till a kinsman of his, a
scholer of Bourges, did eat before him, dressed like a corse.
The story (saith Serres) was acted in a comedy before Charles
the Ninth. Some think they are beasts, wolves, hogs, and
gcry like dogs, foxes, bray like asses, and low like kine, as
king Proetus daughters. Hildesheim (spicil.2. de Mania) hath
an example of a Dutch Baron so affected ; and Trincavellius
(lib. 1. consil. 11) another of a noble man in his countrey,
h that thought he was certainly a beast , and would imitate
most of their voices, with many such symptomes, which may
properly be reduced to this kind.
If it proceed from the several combinations of these four hu-
a Tales plus c 33 tens timent, et continue tristantur; valde suspiciosi, soiitudinem
diligunt ; corruptissimas habent imaginationes, &c. •> Si a melancholia adusta,
tristes, de sepulchris somniant, timent ne fascinentur, pntant se mortnos, adspici no-
lunt. c Videntnr sibi videre monachos nigros et daemones, et snspensos et
mortuos. clQuavis nocte se cum daemone coire putavit. e Semper fere
vidisse militem nigrum praesentem. f Anthony de Yerdeur. g Quidani mugitus
bourn semulantur, et pecora se putant, ntProeti filise. h Baro quidam mugitus
bourn, et rugitus asiaorum. et aiiorum animaiium voces, effingit.
288
Symptomes of Melancholy, [Part. 1. Sec. 5.
incurs, or spirits (Here, de Saxon, adds hot, cold, dry, moist,
dark, confused, setled, constringed, as it participates of mat¬
ter, or is without matter), the symptomes are likewise mixt.
One thinks himself a giant, another a dwarf; one is heavy as
lead, another is as light as a feather. Marcell us Donatus
(l. 2. cap. 41) makes mention, out of Seneca, of one Senecio, a
rich man, *that thought himself and every thing else he had ,
great — great wife , great horses ; could not abide little things,
but would have great pots to drink in, great hose, and great
shoos bigger than his feet — like her in b Trallianus, that sup¬
posed she could shake all the world with her finger, and was
afraid to clinch her hand together, lest she should crush the
world like an apple in pieces — or him in Galen, that thought
he was c Atlas, and sustained heaven with his shoulders. An¬
other thinks himself so little, that he can creep into a mouse-
hole : one fears heaven will fall on his head : a second is a
cock; and such a one dGuianerius saith he saw at Padua, that
would clap his hands together, and crow. e Another thinks he
is a nightingal, and therefore sings all the night long; another,
he is all glass, a pitcher, and will therefore let no body come
near him; and such a one fLaurentius gives put upon his
credit, that he knew in France. Christophorus a Vega {cap. 3.
lib. 14), Skenkius, and Marcellus Donatus (/. 2. cap. 1), have
many such examples, and one, amongst the rest, of a baker in
Ferrara, that thought he was composed of butter, and durst
not sit in the sun, or come near the fire, for fear of being
melted; of another that thought, he was a case of leather,
stuffed with wind. Some laugh, weep; some are mad, some
dejected, moped, in much agony, some by fits, others con-
tinuate, &c. Some have a corrupt ear (they think they hear
musick, or some hideous noise, as their phantasie conceives),
corrupt eyes, some smelling, some one sense, some another,
s Lewis the eleventh had a conceit every thing did stink about
him : all the odoriferous perfumes they could get, would not
ease him ; but still he smelled a filthy stink. A melancholy
French poet, in hLaurentius, being sick of a fever, and troubled
with waking, by his physicians was appointed to use unguen-
tum populeum to anoint his temples ; but he so distasted the
smell of it, that, for many years after, all that came near him
he imagined to scent of it, and would let no man talk with him
a Omnia magna putabat, uxorem magnam, grandes equos; abhorruit omnia parva;
magna pocula, et calceamenta pedibns majora. b Lib. 1. cap. 16.- Putavit se
nno digito posse totnm mnndam conterere. c Sustinet hnmeris coelum cam
Atlante. Alii cceli ruinam timent. d Cap. 1 . Tract. 15. Alius se gallum pntat,
alius lusciniam. 6 Trallianus. fCap. 7. de me], s Anthony de Verdeur.
h Cap. 7. de mel.
289
Mem. 1. Subs. 4.] Syrnpto raes from, Custome.
but aloof off, or wear any new clotbes, because he thought still
they smelled of it; in all other things wise and discreet, he
would talk sensibly, save only in this. A gentleman in Ly-
inosen (saith Anthony Verdeur), was persuaded he had but
one legg : affrighted by a wild boar, that by chance stroke him
on the legg, he could not be satisfied his legg was sound (in
all other things well) until two Franciscans, by chance coming
that way, fully removed him from the conceipt. Sed abunde
fabularum audivimus.
SUBSECT. IV.
Symptomes from education , customes, continuance of time , our
condition , mixt with other diseases, by fits, inclination , 8fc.
Another great occasion of the variety of these symptomes
proceeds front custom, discipline, education, and several in¬
clinations. a This humour will imprint in melancholy men
the objects most answerable to their condition of life, and ordi¬
nary actions, and dispose men according to their several studies
and callings. If an ambitious man become melancholy, he
forthwith thinks he is a king, an emperour, a monarch, and
walks alone, pleasing himself with a vain hope of some future
preferment, or present, as he supposeth, and withal acts a
lords part, takes upon him to be some statesman, or magnifico,
makes congies, gives entertainments, looks big, &c, Francisco
Sansovino records of a melancholy man in Cremona, that would
not be induced to believe, but that he was pope, gave pardons,
made cardinals, &c. bChistophorus a Vega makes mention
of another of his acquaintance, that thought he was a king
driven from his kingdom, and was very anxious to recover
his estate, A covetous person is still conversant about pur¬
chasing of lands and tenements, plottingin in his mind how to
compass such and such mannors, as if he were already lord of,
and able to go through with it ; all he sees is his, re or spe ;
he hath devoured it in hope, or else in conceit esteems it his
own; like him in cAthenseus, that thought all the ships in
the haven to be his own. A lascivious inamorato plots all the
day long to please his mistriss, acts 'and struts, and carries
himself, as if she were in presence, still dreaming of her, as
Pamphilus of his Glycerium, or as some do in their morning
aLanrentins, cap. 6. hLib, 3. cap. 14. Qui se regem putavit regno expnlsum.
c Dipnosopliist- lib. Thrasylaiis putavit omnes naves in Piraeeum portum appellentes
£90 Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
sleep. aMarce!lus Douatus knew such a gentlewoman in
Mantua, called Elionora Meliorina, that constantly believed
she was married to a king, and b would kneel down and talk
with him, as if he had been there present with his associates ;
and if she had found by chance a ’piece of glass in a muck-hill
or in the street, she would say that it was a jewell sent from
her lord and husband. If devout and religious, he is all for
fasting, prayer, ceremonies, alms, interpretations, visions, pro¬
phecies, revelations; che is inspired by the Holy Ghost, full
of the spii'it ; one while he is saved, another while damned, or
still troubled in mind for his sins; the devil will surely have
him, &e. More of these in the third partition of love melan¬
choly. d A scholars mind is busied about his studies ; he ap¬
plauds himself for that he hath done, or hopes to do, one
while fearing to be out in his next exercise, another while
contemning all censures; envies one, emulates another ; or
else, with indefatigable pains and meditation, consumes him¬
self. So of the rest, all which vary according to the more
remiss and violent impression of the object, or as the humour
it self is intended or remitted : for some are so gently melan¬
choly, that, in all their carriage, and to the outward appre¬
hension of others, it can hardly be discerned, yet to them an.
intolerable burden, and notto be endured. e Queedam occulta,
quoedam manifesto ; some signs are manifest and obvious to
all at ail times, some to few, or seldom, or hardly perceived:
let them keep their own counsel, none will take notice or
suspect them. They do not express in outward shew their
depraved imaginations (as f Hercules de Saxonia observes),
hut conceal them wholly to themselves, an d are very wise men,
as I have often seen: some fear ; some do not fear at all, as
such as think themselves kings or dead ; some have more signs,
some fewer, some great, some less; some vex, fret, still fear,
grieve, lament, suspect, laugh, sing, weep, chafe, &c. by fits
(as I have said), or more during and permanent. Some dote
in one thing, are most childish, and ridiculous, and to be
wondered at in that, and yet, for all other matters, most dis¬
creet and wise. To some it is in disposition, to another in
habit; and, as they write of heat and cold, we may say of this
humour, one is melancholicus ad octo, a second two degrees
less, a third half way. 5Tis super-particular, sesquialtera, ses-
aDe hist Med. mirab. lib. 2. cap. 1. h Genibus flexis Ioqui cum illo volnit,
et adstare jam turn putavit, &c. c Gordonius. Quod sit propheta, et inflatus a
Spiritu Sancto. d Qui forensibus caussis insudat, nil nisi arresta cogitatj et
supplices libellos ; alius non nisi versus facit. P. Forestus. e Gordonius.
t'Verbo nonexprimunt3necopere, sedaltamente recondunt; et sunt viri prndentissimi,
quos egoj ssepe novi ; cum multi sint sine timore, ut qui se reges et mortuosputant;.
plura signa quidam habent, pauciora, majora, minora.
291
Mem. 1. Subs. 4.] Symptomes from Custome.
quitertia, and superbipartiens tertias, quintas melancholia, SfC.
all those geometrical proportions are too little to express it.
a/f comes to many by Jits, and goes ; to others it is continuate :
many (saith b Faventinus) in spring and fall only are molested;
some once a year, as that Roman, c Galen speaks of ; d one,
at the conjunction of the moon alone, or some unfortunate
aspects, at such and such set hours and times, like the sea-
tides ; to some women -when they be with child, as e Plater
notes, never otherwise ; to others ’tis setled and fixed : to one-
led about and variable still by that ignis fatuus of phantasie,
like an arthritis , or running gout, ’tis here and there, and in
every joint, always molesting some part or other ; or if the
body be free, in a myriad of forms exercising the mind. . A
second, once peradventure in his life, hath a most grievous fit,
once in seven years, once in five years, even to the extremity
of madness, death, or dotage, and that upon some feral acci¬
dent or perturbation, terrible object, and that for a time, never
perhaps so before, never after. A third is moved upon all
such troublesome objects, cross fortune, disaster, and violent
passions, otherwise free, once troubled in three or four years.
A fourth, if things be to his mind, or he in action, well pleased
in good company, is most jocund, and of a good complexion •
if idle, or alone, a la mort , or carried away wholly with
pleasant dreams and phantasies, but if once crossed and dis¬
pleased,
Pectore concipiet nil nisi triste suo :
his countenance is altered on a sudden, his heart heavy ; irk¬
some thoughts crucifie his soul, and in an instant he is moped
or weary of his life, he will kill himself. A fifth complains in
his youth, a sixth in his middle age, the last in his old age.
Generally thus much we may conclude of melancholy — that
it is f most pleasant at first, I say, mentis gratissimus error, a
most delightsome humour, to be alone, dwell alone, walk alone,
meditate, lye in bed whole dayes, dreaming awake as it were,
and frame a thousand phantastical imaginations unto them¬
selves. They are never better pleased than when they are so
doing : they are in Paradise for the time, and cannot well en¬
dure to be interrupt ; with him in the poet,
- - - s poll me occidistis, amici,
Non servastis, ait -
you have undone him, he complains, if you trouble him: tell
^Trallianns, lib. 1 . 16. Alii intervalla quaedam habent, ot etiam consueta administrent ;
alii in coctinuo delirio sent, &c. bPragmag. Vere tantnm et autumno. c Lib.
de bnmonbas. d Goianerias. eDe mentis alienat. cap. 3. fLevinus
Lemnius, Jason Pratensis. Blanda ab initio. s Hor.
§92 Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
him what inconvenience will follow, what will be the event ;
all is one ; cards ad vomitum : a ’tis so pleasant, he cannot re¬
frain. He may thus continue perad venture many years by-
reason of a strong- temperature, or some mixture of business,
which may divert his cogitations : but, at the last, laesa ima-
ginatio, his phantasie is crazed, and, now habituated to such
toyes, cannot but work still like a fate ; the scene alters upon a
sudden; fear and sorrow supplant those pleasing thoughts;
suspicion, discontent, and perpetual anxiety succeed in their
places; so by little and little, by that shooing- horn of idle¬
ness, and voluntary solitariness, Melancholy, this feral fiend,
is drawn on ; and
b Quantum vertice ad auras
iElhereas, tantum radicein Tartara tendit :
it was not so delicious at first, as it is now bitterand harsh : a
cankered soul macerated with cares and discontents, taediwn,
vitae, impatience; agony, inconstancy, irresolution, precipitate
them unto unspeakable miseries. They cannot endure com¬
pany, light, or life it self, some ; unfit for action, and the like.
c Their bodies are lean and dryed up, withered, ugly, their
looks harsh, very dull, and their souls tormented, as they are
more .or less7 intang-led, as the humour hath been intended, or
according to the continuance of time they have been troubled.
To discern all which symptomes the better, dRhasis the
Arabian makes three degrees of them. The first is * falsa co -
gitatio, id\se conceits and idle thoughts; to misconstrue and
amplifie, aggravating every thing they conceive or fear : the
second is, falsa cogitata loqui, to talk to themselves, or to use
inarticulate, incondite voices, speeches, obsolete gestures, and
plainly to titter their minds and conceits of their hearts by
their words and actions, as to laugh, weep, to be silent, not to
sleep, eat their meat, &c. the third is to put in practice that
which they think or speak. Savanarola (Rub. 11. tract. 8.
cap. 1. de cegritudine) confirms as much: fwhen he begins to
express that in words, which he conceives in his heart, or talks
idly, or goes from, one thing to another (which s Gordonius
calls nee caput habentia, nec caudam ), he is in the middle way:
h but, when he begins to act it likewise , and to put his fopperies
in execution, he is then in the extent of melancholy or madness
aFacilis descensus Avemi. _ bVirg. 'Corpus cadaverosum. Psa. 67. Cariosa
est facies mea prae aegritudine animae. d Lib. 9. ad Almansorem. 'Practica
majore. f Quum ore loquitur quae corde concepit, quum subito de una re ad
aliud transit, neque rationem de aliquo reddit, tunc est in medio : at quum incipit ope-
rari quae loquitur, in summo gradu est.' = Cap. 19. Partic. 2. Loquitur secum, et
ad alios, ac si vere prsesentes. Aug. c. 11. lib. de curapro mortuis gerenda. Ehasis.
h Quum res ad hoc devenit, ut ea, quae cogitare coeperit, ore promat, atqne actaper-
misceat, turn perfecta melancholia est.
Mem. 1. Subs. 4.] Symptomes from Custome. 29S
it self. This progress of melancholy you shall easily observe
in them that have been so affected : they go smiling to them¬
selves at first, at length they laugh out ; at first solitary, at last
they can endure no company : or, if they do, they are now
dizards, past sense and shame, quite moped ; they care not
what they say or do ; all their actions, words, gestures, are
furious or ridiculous. At first his mind is troubled; he doth
not attend what is said; if you can tell him a tale,he Cryes at
last, what said you ? but in the end he mutters to himself, as
old women do many times, or old men when they sit alone ;
upon a sudden they laugh, whoop, hollow, or run away, and
swear they see or hear players, a devils, hobgoblins, ghosts ;
strike, or strut, &c. grow humorous in the end. Like him in
the poet — scepe ducentos, scepedecem servos — -he will dress him¬
self, and undress, careless at last, grows insensible, stupid, or
mad. b He howls like a woolf, barks like a dog, and raves like
Ajax and Orestes, hears musick and outcryes, which no man
else hears ; as c he did whom Amatus Lusitanus mentioneth
{cent. 3. cura 55), or that woman in d Springer, that spake
many languages, and said she was possessed ; that farmer, in
e Prosper Calenus, that disputed and discoursed learnedly in
philosophy and astronomy, with Alexander Achilleshis master,
at Boloigne in Italy. But of these I have already spoken.
Who can sufficiently speak of these symptomes, of prescribe
rules to comprehend them ? As Echo to the painter in Auso-
nius, verne, quid affectas, Sfc. foolish fellow, what wilt ? if you
must needs paint me, paint a voice, et similem si vis pingere ,
pinge sonum: if you will describe melancholy, describe a phan-
tastical conceit, a corrupt imagination, vain thoughts and dif¬
ferent; which who can do ? The four and twenty letters make
no more variety of words in divers languages, than melancholy
conceits produce diversity of symptomes in several persons.
They are irregular, obscure, various* so infinite, Proteus him¬
self is not so divers ; you may as well make the moon a new
coat, as a true character of a melancholy man ; as soon find
the motion of a bird in the air, as the heart of man, a melan¬
choly man. They are so confused, I say, divers, intermixt
with other diseases — as the species be confounded, (which f I
have shewed) so are the symptomes ; sometimes with head-
ach, cachexia, dropsie, stone (as you may perceive by those
several examples and illustrations, collected by gHildesheim,
spicil, 2. Mercurialis, consil . 118. cap. 6. et 11), with head-ach,
aMelancholicus se videre et audire putat daemones. Lavater, de spectris, par. 3.
cap. 2. b Wierus, 1. 3. c. 31. c Michael, a musician. dMalleo malef.
e Lib. de atra bile. tPart 1. Subs. 2. Memb. 2. S' De delirio, melancholia,
et mania.
294
Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
epilepsie, priapismus (Trincavellius, consil.\2. lib. 1. consil.Sff)
with gout, caninus appetitus (Montanus, consil. 26. $>c. 23. 234.
249), with falling-sickness, head-ach, vertigo, Iycanthropia,
&c. (J. Caesar Claudinus, consult. 4. consult. 80. et 116) with
gout, agues, hemroids, stone, &c. Who can distinguish these
melancholy symptomes so intermix! with others, or apply
them to their several kinds, confine them into method? ’Tis
hard, I confess ; yet I have disposed of them as I could, and
will descend to particularize them according to their species:
for hitherto I have expatiated in more general lists or terms,
speaking promiscuously of such ordinary signs, which occur
amongst writers. Not that they are all to be found in one
man ; for that were to paint a monster or chimera, not a man ;
but some in one, some in another, and that successively or at
several times.
Which I have been the more curious to express and report,
not to upbraid any miserable man, or by way of derision (I
rather pity them), but the better to discern, to apply remedies
unto them; and to shew that the best and soundest of us all is
in great danger ; how much we ought to fear our own fickle
estates, remember our miseries and vanities, examine and hu¬
miliate our selves, seek to God, and call to him for mercy,
that needs not look for any rods to scourge our selves, since
we carry them in our bowels, and that our souls are in a mi¬
serable captivity, if the. light o? grace and heavenly truth doth
not shine continually upon us ; and by our discretion to mo¬
derate our selves, to be more circumspect and wary in the
midst of these dangers.
MEM B. II. SUBSECT. I.
Symptomes of Head-Melancholy.
If* no symptomes appear about the stomachy nor the blood be
misaffected, and fear and sorrow continue , it is to be thought
the brain it self is troubled,by reason of a melancholy juyce
bred in it, or other w ayes conveyed into it; and that eviljuyce-
isfrom the distemper ature of the part, or left after some in¬
flammation. Thus far Piso. But this is not alwayes true ;
for blood and hypochondries both are often affected even in
head-melancholy. bHercules de Saxonia differs here from
the common eurrent of writers, putting peculiar signs of head¬
s'- Nicholas Piso. Si signa circa ventricnlum non apparent, nec sanguis male affec-
tus, et adsunt timor et moestitia, cerebrum ipsum existimandum est, &c. *> Tract,
de mel. c. 13, 8tc. Ex intemperie spirit lium, et cerebri motu et tenebrositate. ^
Mem. 2. Subs. 1.} Symptomes of Head-Melancholy. 295
melancholy, from the sole distemperature of spirits in the
brain, as they are hot, cold, dry, moist, all without matter ,
from the motion alone , and tenebrosity of spirits. Of melan¬
choly which proceeds from humours by adustion, he treats
apart, with their several symptomes and cures. The common
signs, if it be by essence in the head, are ruddiness of face, high
sanguine complexion,most part , ( rubore saturate, aone calls it) a
blewish, and sometimes full of pumples, with red eyes. (Avi¬
cenna, l. 3. Fen. 2. Tract. 4. c. Its. Duretus, and others out
of Galen de affect. 1. 3. c. 6). b Hercules de Saxonia, to this
of redness of face, adds heaviness of the head, fixed and hollow
eyes. c If it proceed from dryness of the brain, then their
heads will be light, vertiginous, and they most apt to wake, and
to continue whole months together without sleep. Few excre -
meats in their eyes and nostrils ; and often bald by reason of
excess of dryness, Montaltus adds (c. 17). If it proceeds from
moisture, dulness, drowsiness, head-ach follows ; and (as
Sallust. Salvianus, c. 1. 1. 2. out of his own experience found)
epileptical, with a multitude of humours in the head. They
are very bashful, if ruddy, apt to blush, and to be red upon
all occasions, prceserfim si metus accesserit. But the chiefest
symptome to discern this species, as I have said, is this, that
there be no notable signs in the stomach, hypochondries, or
elsewhere, digna, as d Montaltus terms them, or of greater
note, because oftentimes the passions of the stomach concurr
with them. Wind is common to all three species, and is not
excluded, only that of the hypochondries is e more windy than
the rest, saith Hollerius. Aetius ( tetrab . 1. 2. se. 2 c. 9. et 10)
maintains the same : f if there be more signs, and more evident, in
the head than elsewhere, the brain is primarily affected, and pre¬
scribes head-melancholy to be cured by meats (amongst the rest)
void of wind, and good juyce, not excluding wind, or corrupt
blood, even in head-melancholy itself ; but these species are
often confounded, and so are their symptomes, as I have already
proved. The symptomes of the mind are superfluous and con¬
tinual cogitations ; sfor , when the head is heated, it scorcheth
* Facie sunt rnbente et livesceute, qnibus etiam aliqnando adsnnt pustular. _ b Jo.
Pantheon, cap. de Mel. Si cerebrum primario afficiatnr, adsnnt capitis gravitas, fixi
oeuli, &c. c Laurent, cap, 5. Si a cerebro, ex siccitate, turn capitis erit levifas, sitis,
vigilia, paucitas superfluitafum in oclilis et naribus dSi nulla digna laesio ventri-
culo, quoniam, in bac melancholia capitis, exigua nonnunquam ventriculi pathemata
coeunt ; duo enira hsec membra sibi invicem affectionem transmittunt. e Postrema
magis fl ttuosa . fSi minus molestiac circa ventriculum aut ventrem, in iis cerebrum
primario afficitur; et curare oportet hunc afiectum, per cibos flatus exsortes, et bona;
coaeoctionis, &c. raro cerebrum afficitur sine ventriculo. s Sanguinem adurit ca¬
put calidius ; et inde fumi melancholici adusti animom exagitant
VOL. I.
E E
296 Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. See. 3.
the blooR; and from thence proceed melancholy fumes, which
trouble the mind (Avicenna) . They are very choleriqk, and soop
hot, solitary, sad, often silent, watchful, discontent (Montaltus,
cap. 24). If any thing trouble them, they cannot sleep, but
fret themselves still, till another, object mitigate, or time wear
it out. They have grievous passions, and immoderate per¬
turbations of the mind, fear, sorrow, &c. yet not so eontimi-
ate, but that they are sometimes merry, apt to profuse laughter
(which is more to be wondered at), and that by. the authority
of a Galen himself, by a reason of mixture of blood ; prcerubri
jocosis delectantur, et irrisores plerumque sunt : if they be
ruddy, they are delighted in jests, and oftentimes scoffers
themselves, conceited, and (as Rodericus a Vega comments
on that place of Galen) merry, witty, of a . pleasant disposition,
and yet grievously melancholy anon after. Omnia discunt
sine doctor e, saith Aretseus : they learn without a teacher :
and, as b Laurentius supposeth, those feral passions and
symptomes of such as think themselves glass, ; pitchers, fear
thers, &c. speak strange languages, proceed a color e cerebri
.(if it be in excess), from the brains distempered heat.
SUBSECT.IL
Symptomes of windy Hypochondriacal Melancholy.
IN this bypt>c%mi,dvifcal or fatuous melancholy, the symptomes
are so ambiguous, , (saith p Cr ato, in a counsel of his for a noble¬
woman) that the most exquisitejphysicians cannot determine of
the part affected. MatfhewElaccius, consulted aboufia noble,
matron, confessed as much, that in this malady,' he, with Hol-
lerius, Fra castOriuSjFalopiiis, and others, beingto give theirsen-
tence of a party labouring ofhy pochohdriacal melancholy, could-
not find out by the symptomes, which part was most especially
affected : some said the womb, some heart, some stomach, &c.
and therefore Crato (consil- 9,1. lib. L) boldly avers, that, in this
diversity of symptomes which commonly accompany this disease
dno physician can truly say what partis affected. Galen (lib. 3.
deloc. affect,) reckons up these ordinary symptomes (wbichall.
the neotericks repeat) out of Diocles ; only this fault he finds with
him, that he puts not fear and sorrow amongst the other signs.
a Lib. deloc. affect cap. 6. .b Cap. 6. ' cHildesheim, spicil. 1. de mel. In
liypoclfondriaca melancholia, adeo ambigua snnt symptomata, ut etiam exereitatissimi
medici deloco affecto statuere non possint. d Mediei de loco affecto nequeunt ■
siatuere. ... .. . . . . :
Mem. 2. Subs. 2.] Symptomes of windy Melancholy. 297
Trinca veil ius exeuseth Diodes (Jib. 3. consil. 35), because that
oftentimes, in a strong1 head and constitution, a generous spirit,
and a valiant, these symptomes appear not, by reason of his
valour and courage. a Hercules de Saxonia (to whom I sub¬
scribe) is of the same mind (which I have before touched) that
fear and sorrow, are not generally Symptomes : some fear, and
are not sad ; some be sad, and fear not ; some neither fear nor
grieve. The rest are these, beside fear and sorrow, b sharp
belching s, fulsome crudities , heat in the bowels , wind and
rumbling in the guts, vehement gripings, pain in the belly and
stomach sometimes, after meat that is hard of concoction,
much watering of the stomach, and moist spittle, cold sweat,
importunus sudor, unseasonable sweat all over the body, (as
Octavius Horatianus, lib. 2. cap. 5. calls it) cold joyhts, in¬
digestions; c they camiot endure their own fulsome belching s ;
continual wind about their hypochondries, heat and griping in
their bowels ; prsecordia sitrsum convelliintur, midriff, and
bowels are pulled up ; the veins about their eyes look red, and
swell from vapours and wind. Their ears sing now and then ;
vertigo and giddiness come by fits, turbulent dreams, dri¬
ness, leanness ; apt they are to sweat upon all occasions, of all
colours and complexions. Many of them are high coloured,
especially after meals; which symptome Cardinal Cassius was
much troubled with, and of which he complained to Prosper
Calenus his physician, he could not eat,: or drink a cup of
wine, but he was as red in the face, as if he had been at a
maiors feast. That symptome alone vexetb many. d Some
again are black, pale, ruddy ; sometime their shoulders and
shoulder-blades ake : there is a leaping all over their bodies,
sudden trembling, a palpitation of the heart, and that cardiaca
passio, grief in the mouth of the stomach, which maketh the
patient think his heart it self aketh, and sometimes suffocation,
difficultas anhelitus, short breath, hard wind, strong pulse,
swooning. Montanus (consil. 55) , Trinca veil ius (lib. 3. consil.
36. et. 37), Fernelius (cons. 43), Frambesarius ( consult . lib. 1 .
consil. 1 7), Hildesheim, Claudinus, &c. give instance of every
particular. The peculiar symptomes, which properly belong to
each part, be these. If it proceed from the stomach, saith
a Tract, postnmo de mel. Patavii edit. 1620. per Bozettum Bibliop. cap. 2.
b'Acidi ructus, cruditates, aestns in nrsecordiis, flatus, interd am ventriculi dolores ve-
hementes, sumtoque cibo concoctu difBcili, sputum humidum idque multum sequetur,
&c. Hip. lib. demel. Galenus, Melanelins e Buffo et Aetio, Altomarus, Piso, Mon-
ialtus, Bruel, Wecker, &c. c Circa prsecordia de assidua inflatione que-
rantur ; et cum, sudore totius corporis importnno, frigidos articulos saepe patiuntur, indi-
gestiond laborant, ructus suos iusuaves perhorrescunt, viscerum dolores habent
dMontaltus, c. 13. Wecker, Fucksius, c. 13. Altomarus, c. 7. Lanrentius, c. 73.
Bruel, Gordon.
298
Sympiomes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
a Savanarolh, ’tis full of pain,' wind. Guianerius adds, ver¬
tigo nausea, much • spitting, &c. If from the myrache, a
swelling- and wind in the hypochondries, a loathing, and appe¬
tite to vomit, pulling upward. If from the heart, aking and
trembling of it, much heaviness. If from the liver, there is
usually a pain in the right hypochondry. If from the spleen,,
hardness and grief in the left hypochondry, a rumbling, much
appetite and small digestion (Avicenna). If from the mesa-
ralck veins and- liver on the other side, little or no appetite
(Herc. de Saxonia). Iffrom the hypochondries, arumbling in¬
flation, concoction is hindred, often belching, &c. And from
these crudities, windy vapours ascend up to the brain, which
trouble the imagination, and cause fear, sorrow, diilhess, heavi¬
ness, many terrible conceits and chimeras, as Lemnius well
observes (/. l. c. 16) : as ba black and thick cloud covers the
sun , arid intercepts Ms beams and light, so doth this melan¬
choly vapour obnubilate the mind, inforce it to many absurd
thoughts and imaginations, and compel good, wise, honest,
discreet men (arising to the brain from the c lower parts, as
smoak out of a chimney ) to dote, speak, and do that which
becomes them not, their persons, callings, wisdoms. On e, by
reason of those ascending vapours and gripings rumbling be¬
neath, will not be perswaded but that be hath a serpent in his
guts, a viper ; another, frogs. Trallianus relates a story of a
woman, that imagined she had swallowed an eel, or a serpent;
and Felix Platerus (observat. lib. 1) hath a most memorable
example of a countreyman of his, that by chance falling into
a pit where frogs and frogs-spawn was, and a little of that
water swallowed, began to suspect that he had likewise swal¬
lowed frogs spawn; and, with that conceit and fear, his phan-
tasie wrought so far, that he verily thought he had young live
frogs in his belly, qui vivebant ex alimento suo, that lived by
his nourishment, and was so certainly perswaded of it, that, for
many years following, he could not be rectified in his conceit :
he studied physick seven years together, to cure himself, tra¬
velled into Italy, France, and Germany, to conferr with the best
physicians about it, and , anno 1609, asked his counsel amongst
the rest. He told him it was wind, his conceipt, &c. but mor-
dicus contradicere, et ore et scriptis probdre nitebatur : no
saying would serve : it was no wind, but real frogs: and do
you not hear them croak ?. -Platerus would have deceived him,
by putting live frogs into his excrements : but he, being a phy¬
sician himself, would not be deceived, vir prudens alias, et
a Pract. major. Dolor iu eo et ventositas, nausea. b Ut atra densaque nubes,
soil odusa, radios et lumen ejus intercipit et offuscat : sic, &c. - C-Ut fumus e
.camino. .
Mem. 2. Subs. 3.] Symptomes of windy Melancholy. 299
doctus, a wise and learned man otherwise, a doctor of physick;
and after seven years dotage in this kind, a phantasm liber atus
est , be was cured. Laurentius and Goulart have many such
examples, if you be desirous to read them. One commodity,
above the rest which are melancholy, these windy flatuous have
—lucida infer valla: their symptomes and gains are not usu¬
ally so continuate as the rest, but come by fits, fear and sorrow
and the rest : yet, in another, they exceed all others ; and that
is, a they are luxurious, incontinent, and prone to venery, by
reason of wind, et facile amant, et quamlibet fere amant (J aso n
Pratensis). b Rliasis is of opinion, that Venus doth many of
them much good; the other symptomes of the mind be com¬
mon with the rest.
SUBSECT. III.
Symptomes of Melancholy abounding in the whole body .
Their bodies, that are affected with this universal melan¬
choly, are most part black ; c the melancholy juyce isredundant
all over ; hirsute they are, and lean; they have broad veins,
their blood is gross and thick. d Their spleen is weak , and a
liver apt to ingender the humour ; they have kept bad diet, or
have had some evacuation stopped, as hsemroids, or months in
women, which e Trallianus,in the cure, would have carefully to
be inquired, and withal to observe of what complexion the party
is, black or red. For, as Forrestus and Hollerius contend, if
f they be black, it proceeds from abundance of natural melan¬
choly ; if it proceed from cares, agony, discontents, diet, exer¬
cise, &c. they may be as well of any other colour, red, yellow,
pale, as black, and yet their whole blood corrupt; prcerubri
colore saepe sunt tales, scepe flavi (saith g Montaltus, cap. 22).
The best way to discern this species, is to let them bleed:
if the blood be corrupt, thick, and black, and they withal free
from those hypochondriacal symptomes, tmd not so grievously
troubled with them, or those of the head, it argues they are
melancholy a tolo corpore. The fumes which arise from this
a Hypochondriac! Jnaxime affectant coire, et multiplicatnr coitus in ipsis, ea quod
ventositates multiplicantur in hvpochondriis, et coitus saepe allevat has ventositates.
b Cont.lib. 1. tract 9. c Wecker. Melancholicus-succus toto corpore rednndans.
d Splen natura imbecillior. Montaltus, cap. 22. « Lib. 1. cap. 16. Interrogare
convenit, an aliqna evacuationis retentio obvenerit, viri in haemorrhoid, molierum men-
struis ; et vide faciem similiter, an sit rnbicunda. f Naturales nigri acquisiti a toto
corpore, saepe ribicundi. S Montaltus, cap. 22, Piso. Ex colore sanguinis, si
minuas venam, si fluat niger, &c.
300
Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. See. 3.
corrupt blood, disturb the mind, and make them fearful and sor¬
rowful, heavy hearted, as the rest, dejected, discontented, soli¬
tary, silent, weary of their lives, dull and heavy, or merry, &c.
and, if far gone, that which Apuleius wished to his enemy, by
way of imprecation, is true in them : “dead mens hones, hob¬
goblins, ghosts, are ever in their minds, and meet them still in
every turn: all the bugbears of the night, and terrours and
fairybabes of tombs and graves, are before their eyes an din their
thoughts, as to women and children, if they be in the dark alone.
If they hear, or read, or See, any tragical object, it sticks by
them ; they are afraid of death, and yet weary of their lives ; in
their discontented humours, they quarrel with all the world, bit¬
terly inveigh, tax satyrically ; ana, because they cannot other¬
wise vent their passions, or redress what is amiss, as they mean,
they will, by violent death* at last be revenged on themselves.
SUBSECT. IV.
Symptomes of Maids, Mims, and Widows Melancholy.
-BECAUSE Uo^lovicus Mercatus (in his second book de mu¬
tter. affect, c. 4), and Rodericus a Castro (de morb . mulier. c. 3.
I- 2), two famous physicians in Spain, Daniel Sennertus of
Wittenberg -(lib. 1. pgvU% cap. 13)* with others, have vouch¬
safed, in their works not long since published, to write two just
treatises de MelgftcJiolid Virginum, Monialium , et Viduarum.,
.dp a peculiar species of Hieiapchqly (which I have already
specified) distinct from the rest, (b for it much differs front
that which commonly hefajjs^men and other women, as having
one only cause proper to women alone) 1 tnay not omit, in this
general survey of melancholy symptomes, to set down the
particular signs of such parties so misaffected;.
The causes are assigned out of Hippocrates,. Cleopatra,
, Moschion, and those old gy^csciorum scriptores, of' this feral
malady, in more ancient maids, widows, and barren wornen,o&
septum transversiim aio/atam^saitb Mercatus), by reason of the
midrifle or diapliragma ,, heart and brain otlended with those
vicious vapours which come from menstruous blood : infamma -
tionem arteries circa dor sum, Jlo&ericx\s adds, an inflammation of
11 Apnl. I. 1. _ Semper ohvias species mortnorum: qnidqnid umbrarntii- est iispiam,
quidquid lemurumet larvarnm, ocnlis sais aggerant : sibi fingnnt omnia noctium oc-
cinsacala, omnia bustorum formidamina ; omnia seputcrorum terricidamenta.
bBiffert enim ab ea qu® viris e.t reliquis feminis communiter contingit, propriam
habeas caussam. :
Mem. 2. Subs. 4.] Symptomes of Women’s Melancholy. 301
the back, which witb the rest is offended by atbat fuliginous
exhalation of corrupt seed, troubling the brain, heart and
mind; the brain I say, not in essence, but by consent ; uni-
versa enim hujus affectus causa ah utero pendet, et a sanguinis
menstrui malilid ; for, in a word, the whole malady proceeds
from that inflammation, putredity, black smoky vapours, &e.
from thence come care, sorrow, and anxiety, obfuscation of
spirits, agony, desperation and the like, which are intended
or remitted, si amatorius accesser it ardor , or any other violent
object or perturbation of mind. -This melancholy may happen
to widows, with much care and sorrow, as frequently it doth,
by reason of a sudden alteration of their accustomed course
of life, &c. To such as lye in childe-bed, oh suppressam pur-
gationem ; but to nunnes and more' ancient maids, and some
barren women, for the causes abovesaid, ’tis more familiar ;
crehrius his quam reliquis accidit, inquit Rodericus ; the rest
are not altogether excluded.
Out of these causes Rodericus defines it, with Aretseus, to
be angorem gnimi , a vexation of the mind, a suctden sorrow
from a small, light* or no occasion, b with a kind of still dotage
and grief of some part or other, head, heart, breasts, sides,
back, belly, &c. with much solitariness, weeping, distraction,
&c. fronii which they are sometimes suddenly delivered, be¬
cause it comes and goes by fits, and is not so permanent as
other melancholy.
But, to leave this brief description, the most ordinary symp¬
tomes be these : pulsaiio juxta dorsum, a beating about the
back, which is almost perpetual; the skin is many times rough,
squalid, especially (as Aretseus observes) about the arms, knees,
andknuckles. Themidriffe and heart-strings do burn andbeat
very fearfully; and, when this vapour or fume is stirred, flyetk
upward, the heart it selfbeats, is sore grieved, andfaints -.fauces
siccitate prcecluduntur, ut difficultet' possit ab uteri strahgula-
tione discerni, like fits of the mother ; alvus plerisque nil redd.it,
aliis exiguum, acre, biliosum ; lotium flavurn ■ They complain
manytim.es, saithMercatus,ofa great pain in their heads, about
their hearts, and hypochondries, and so likewise in their breasts,
which are oftensore ; sometimes ready to swoon,their faces are
inflamed, and red, they are dry, thirsty, suddenly hot, much
a Ex .menstrui sanguinis tetra ad cor et cerebrum exhalation e : vi datum semen men-
tem perturbat, &c. non per essentiam, sed per consensual. Animus moerens et anxius
inde malum trahit, et spiritus cerebri obfnscantor; qnee cancta aiigeatar, &C. ;>Cum
tacito delirio ac dolore alicnjbs partis internae, dorsi, hypochontlrii, cordis regionem et
tmiversam mammarn interdnm occupantis, &c. Cutis aiiqr.andosqualida, aspera, rogo-
sa. pracipue cubitis, genibus, et digitonim articuiis ; prsecordia mgenti seeps terrore
sestnant et palsant ; camqae vapor excitatns sursum evolat, cor-palpitat aut preiaitur,
animus deficit, &c.
302
Symptomes of Melancholy, [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
troubled with wind, cannot sleep, &c. And from hence proceed
fermadelkumenta , a brutishkind of dotage, troublesome sleep,
terrible dreams in the night, subrusiicus pudor, eiverecundia iy-
npva, a foolishly kind of bashfulness to some, perverse con¬
cedes and opinions, a dejection of mind, much discontent, pre¬
posterous judgement. They are apt to. loath* dislike, disdain, to
be weary of every object, &c. each .thing almost is tedious to
them; they pine away, void ofcounsefaptto weep,and tremble,
timorous, fearful, sad, and out of all hopes of better fortunes.
They take delight in nothing for the time, butlove to be alone
and solitary, though that do them more harm.. And thus they
are affected so long as this vapour lastefh ; but, by and by, as
pleasant and merry as ever they were in their lives, they sing,
discourse and laugh in any good company, upon all occasions;
and so by fits it takes them now and then, except the malady be
inveterate; and then ’tis more frequent, vehement, and con-
tinuate. Many of them cannot tell how to express themselves
in words, how it holds them, what ails them ; you cannot under¬
stand them, or well tell what to make of their sayings; so far
gone sometimes, so stupified and distracted, they think them¬
selves bewitched ; they are in despair, aptce adjlelum, despera-
tionern, dolor es mammiset hypochondriis. Mercatus therefore
adds; now their breasts, now their hypochondries, belly and
sides? then their heart and head akes; nowheat, then wind, now
this, now' that offends ; they are weary of all ; b and yet will not,
cannot again tell bow, where or what offends them, thoughthey
be in great pain, agony, and frequently complain, grieving, sigh¬
ing, weeping and discontented still, sine caussa manifestd, most
part; yet, Isay, they will complain, grudge,lament,andnot be
persuaded butthatthey are troubled with an evil spirit; which
is frequent in Germany, (saith Rodericus) amongst the common
sort, and to such as are most grievously affected ; (for he makes
three degrees of this disease in women) they are in despair,
surely forespoken or bewitched, and in extremity of their do¬
tage, (weary of their lives) some of them will attempt to make
away themselves. Some think they see visions, confer with
spirits and devils ; they shall surely be damned, are afraid of
some treachery, imminent danger, and the like; they will not
speak, make answer to any question, but are almost distracted.
»Animi dejectio, perversa rerum existimatio, praaposterum judicium. Fastidiosa?,
languentes, faediosag, consilii inapes, lacrymosae, timent'es, nicest®, cum summa remm
meliornm desperatione, nulla re delectantnr, solitudinem amant, &c. b Nolnnt
aperire molestiam quam patiuntur : sed conqueruntiir tamen de capite; corde, mammis,
&c. In puteos fere maniaci prosilire, ac st.racgulari capiunt, nulla orationis suavitate
ad spera salutis recoperandam-erigi, &r. Faailiares non eurant : non loquuntur, nos
respondent &c. et hasc graviora, si, &c.
Mem. 2. Subs. 4.] Symptomes of Women’s Melancholy. 303
mad, or stupid for the time, and by fits : and thus it bolds them,
as they are more or less affected, and as the inner humour is
intended or remitted, or by outward objects and perturbations
aggravated, solitariness, idleness, &c.
Many other maladies there are, incident to young women,
out of that one and only cause above specified, many feral dis¬
eases. 1 will not somuch as mention their names: melancholy
alone is the subject of my present discourse, from which I will
not swerve. The several cures of this infirmity, concerning
diet, which must be very sparing, phlebotomy, pbysick, in¬
ternal, external remedies, are at large in great variety in aRo-
dericus a Castro, Sennertus, and Mercatus, which who so
will, as occasion serves, may make use of. But the best and
surest remedy of all, is to see them well placed, and married to
good husbands in due time ; hinc illce lacrymce, that's the
primary cause, and this is the ready cure, to give them content
to their desires. I write not this to patronize any wanton, idle
Hurt, lascivious orlight huswives, which are too forward many
times, unruly, and apt to cast away themselves on him that
comes next, without all care, counsel, circumspection, and
judgement. Tf religion, good discipline, honest education,
wholsome exhortation, fair promises, fame and loss of good
name,cannot inhibit and deterrsuclu (which, to chaste and sober
maids, cannot chuse but avail much) labour and exercise, strict
diet, rigor, and threats, may more opportunely be used, and
are able of themselves to qualifie and divert an ill disposed
temperament. For seldome shall you see an hired servant, a
poor handmaid, though ancient, that is kept hard to her work
and bodily labour, a coarse countrey wench, troubled in this
kind; but noble virgins, nice gentlewomen, such asare solitary
and idle, live at ease, lead a life out of action and employment,
that fare well in great houses, and jovial companies, ill disposed
perad venture of themselves, andnot willing to make any resist¬
ance, discontented otherwise, of weak judgement, able bodies,
and Subject to passions ( grandiores virgines, saith Mercatus,
steriles, et viduce, plerumque melancholicce ) such for the . most
part are misaffected, and prone to this disease. I do not so
much pity them that may otherwise be eased ; but those alone,
that, out of a strong temperament, innate constitution, are vio¬
lently carried away with those torrent ofinward humours, and,
though very modest of themselves, sober, religious, vertuous,
and well given (as many so distressed maids are), yet cannot
make resistance; these grievances will appear, this malady will
take place, and now manifestly shew it self, and may not otber-
z Clysteres et helleborismum Matthioli ssmme laudat.
304 Symptomes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. See. 3.
wise be helped. But where am I? Into what subject have I
rushed ? What hare I to do with nunns, maids, virgins, widows?
I am a bachelor my self, and lead a monastick life in a college :
nce'ego sane ineptus, qui hac dixerim ; I confess ’tis an indeco¬
rum : and as Pallas a virgin blushed, when Jupiter by chance
spake of love matters in her presence, and turn’d away her
face ; me reprimam ; though my subject necessarily require it,
I will say no more.
And yet I must and will say something more, add a word or
two in gratiam virginum et viduarum, in favour of all such
distressed parties, in commiseration oftheir present estate. And,
as I cannot chuse but condole their mishap that labour of this
infirmity, and are destitute of help in this case, so must I needs
inVeigh against them that are in fault, more than manifest causes,
and as bitterly tax those tyrannizing pseudopoliticians, supersti¬
tious orders, rash vows, hard-hearted parents, guardians, unna¬
tural friends, allies, (call them how you will) those careless
and stupid overseers, that, out of worldly respects, covetous¬
ness supine negligence, their own private ends, (cum sibi sit
ihterimbene ) can so severely reject, stubbornly neglect, and im¬
piously contemn, without ail remorse and pity, the tears, Sighs,
groans, and grievous miseries, of such poor SO uls committed to
their charge. HoW odious and abominable are those supersti¬
tious and rash vows of popish monasteries, sotobindand inforce
men and women to vow virginity, to lead a single life against
the laws of nature, opposite to religion, policy, and humanity!
so to starve, to, offer violence, to suppress the vigour of youth !
by rigorous statutes, severelaWs, vain perswasions, to debar them
of that, to which by their innate temperature they are sofuriously
inclined, urgently carried, and sometimes precipitated, even ir¬
resistibly led, to the prejudice of their souls health, and good
estate of body and mind ! and all for base and private respects,
to maintain their gross superstition, to inrich themselves and
their territories (as they falsly suppose) by hinderingsome mar¬
riages, that the world be not full of beggers, and their parishes
pestered with orphans. Stupid politicians ! hosccine fieri jlagiA
tia ? ought these things so to be carried? Better Marry than
burn , saith the apostle; but they are otherwise petswaded.
They will by all means quench their neighbours house, if it be
on fire ; but that fire of lust, which breaks ou t into such lament¬
able flames,, they Will. not take notice of; their own bowels
oftentimes, flesh and blood, shall so rage and burn ; and they
will not see it. Miserum est, saith Austin, seipsum non mise-
rescere ; and they are miserable in the mean time, that cannot
pity themselves, the common good of all, and, per consequens,
their own estates; For let them but consider what fearful
305
Mem. 3.] Causes of these Symptomes.
maladies, feral diseases, gross inconveniences come to both
sexes by this enforced temperance. It troubles me to think of,
much more to relate, those frequent aborts and murdering of
infants in their nunneries (read aKemnitius and others), their
notorious fornications, those spintrias,tribadas, ambubaias, &c.
those rapes, incests, adulteries, mastuprations, sodomies, bug¬
geries, of monks and friers. (See Bales Visitation of Abbies,
b Mercurialis, Roderieus a Castro, Peter Forestus, and divers
physicians.) I know their ordinary apologies and excuses for
these things ; sed viderint politiei, medici, theologi : I shall
more opportunely meet with them c elsewhere.
Illius viduae, aut patronum virginis hujus,
Ne me forte putes, verbum non amplius addam.
MEMB. III.
Immediate Came of these precedent Symptomes.
Togive some satisfaction to melancholy men that are troubled
with these symptomes, a better means, in my judgement, cannot
be taken, than to shew them the causes whence they proceed ;
not from devils, as they suppose, or that they are bewitched or
forsaken of God, hear or see, &c. as many of them think, but
from natural and inward causes ; that, so knowing them, they
may better avoid the effects, or at least endure them with more
patience. The most grievous and common symptomes are fear
and sorrow, and that withouta cause, to the wisest and discreet-
est men, in this malady not to be avoided. The reason why
they are so, Aetius diseusseth at large, Tetrabib. 2. 2. in his
first problem out of Galen, lib. % de caussis sympt. 1. For
Galen imputeth all to the cold that is black, and thinks that the
spiritsbeingdarkned,andthesubstanceofthebraincloudy and
dark, all the objects thereof appear terrible, and thedmind it
self, by those dark, obscure, gross fumes, ascending from black
humours, is imcontinual darkness, fear, and sorrow; divers ter¬
rible monstrous fictions in a thousand shapes and apparitions
occurr, with violent passions, by which the brain and phantasie
are troubled and eclipsed. e Fracastorius (lib. 2. de intellect.')
a Examen cone.. Trident, de coelibatu sacerd. b Cap. de Satyr, et Priapis.
« Part. 3. sect. 2. Memb. 5. Sabs. 5. d Vapores crass! et nigri a ve^trieulo m
cerebrum exhalant Fel. Platerus. e Calidi bilares. frigidi indispositi ad Iseti-
tiam, et ideo sobtarii, taciturn!, non 'b tenebras internas, ut medici volant, sed ob &i-
gus: multi me lane’nolici nocte ambulant intreuidi. Vapores melancholic!, spiritibns,
raiiti, tenebraram caussas sunt. Cap. 1.
306
Symphonies of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
will have cold to he the cause of fear and sorrow ; for such as
are cold , are ill disposed to mirth, dull and heavy , by na¬
ture solitary, silent ; and not for any inward darkness (as
physicians think) ; for many melancholy men dare boldly, he,
continue, and walk in the dark, and delight in it : solum fri-
gidi timidi: if they be hot, they are merry ; and the more hot
the more furious, and void of fear, as we see in mad men : but
this reason holds not; for then no melancholy. proceedi ng from
choler adust, should fear. Averroes scoffs at Galen for his rea¬
sons, and brings five arguments to refell them : so doth Here,
de Saxonia {Tract, de melan. cap. 3) assigning other causes,
which ar6 copiously censured and confuted by JElianus Montal-
tus, cap. 5. et 6. Lod. Mercatus, de inter . morb. cur. lib. I.
cap. 17. Altomarus, cap. 7* de mel. Guianerius, tract. 15.
c.l. Bright, cap. 17. Laurentius, cap. 5. Valesius, med.
cont. Hb. o. con. 1. a Distemper ature (they conclude) makes
black juice ; blackness obscures the spirits; the spirits, ob¬
scured, cause fear and sorrow. Laurentius {cap. 13) supposeth
these black fumes offend especially the diaphragma or midriff,
and so, per consequens, the mind, which is obscured, as b the
sun by a cloud. To this opinion of Galen, almost all the
Greeks and Arabians subscribe, the Latin es new and old; in¬
ternes tenehree offuscant animum, et externxe nocent pueris :
as children are frightened in the dark, so are melancholy men at
all times, cas having the inward cause with them, and still car¬
rying it about. Which black vapours, whether they proceed
from the black blood about the heart, (as T. W. Jes. thinks, in
his Treatise of the passions of the mind) qr stomach, spleen,
midriff, or all the misaffeeted parts together, it boots not;
they keep the mind in a perpetual dungeon, and oppress it
with continual fears, anxieties, sorrows, &c. It is an ordi¬
nary thing for such as are sound, to laugh at this dejected
pusillanimity, and those other symptomes of melancholy, to
• make themselves merry with them, and to wonder at such,
as toyes and trifles, which may be resisted and withstood, if
they will themselves : but let him that so wonders, consider
with himself, that, if a man should tell him on a sudden,
some of his especial friends were dead, could he choose but
grieve ? or set him upon a steep rock, where he should be
in danger to be precipitated, could he be secure? his heart
would tremble for fear, and his head be giddy. P. Byarus
a Intemperies facit succnm nigrum ; nigrities obscurat spiritum ; obscuratio spiritus
facit metum et tristitiam. b Ut nubecula solem offoscat. Constantinus,
lib. de melanch. c Altomarus, c. 7. Caussam timoris circumfert. Ater
humor passlonis materia; et atri spiritus perpetuam animas' domicilio ofiundunt
uoctem.
807
Mem. 3.] Causes of these Symptomes.
(Tract, de pest.) gives instance (as I have said) *and put case
(saith he) in one that walks upon a plank ; if it lye on the
ground, he can safely do it; but if the same plank be laid over
some deep water, instead of a bridge, he is vehemently moved;
and ’tis nothing but his imagination, forma cadendi impressa,
to which his other members and faculties obey. Yea, but you
infer, that such men have just cause to fear, a true object of
fear : to have melancholy men an inward cause, a perpetual
fume and darkness, causing fear, grief, suspicion, which they
carry with them- — an object which cannot be removed, but
sticks as close, and is as inseparable, as a shadow to a body ;
and who can expel, or over-run his shadow : remove heat of
the liver, a cold stomach, weak spleen : remove those adust
humours and vapours arising from them, black blood from the
heart, all outward perturbations ; take away the cause; and
then bid them not grieve nor fear, or be heavy, dull, lumpish :
otherwise counsel can do little good; you may as well bid him
that is sick of an ague, not to be adry; or him that is wounded,
not to feel pain.
Suspicion follows fear and sorrow at heels, arising out of
the same fountain ; so thinks bFracastorius, that fear is the
cause of suspicion , and still they suspect some treachery, or
some secret machination to be framed against them ; still they
distrust. Restlessness proceeds from the same spring; variety
of fumes make them like and dislike. Solitariness, avoiding of
light, that they are weary of their lives, hate the world, arise
from the same causes; for their spirits and humours are opposite
to light ; fear makes them avoid company, and absent them¬
selves, lest; they should be misused, hissed at, or overshoot
themselves ; which still they suspect. They are prone to venery,
by reason of wind ; angry, waspish and fretting still, out of
abundance of choler, which causeth fearful dreams, and vio¬
lent perturbations to them, both sleeping and waking. That
they suppose they have no heads, flye, sink, they are pots,
glasses, &e. is wind in their heads. c Here, de Saxonia doth
ascribe this to the several motions in the animal spirits, their
dilatation, contraction, confusion, alteration, tenebrosity, hot
or cold distemper ature, excluding all material humours. d Fra-
a Pone exemplum, quod quis potest ambulare super trabem quas est in via : sed si
sit super aquam profundam, loco pontis, non ambulabit super earn, eo quod ima-
ginatur in animo et timet vehemeater, forma cadendi impressa, cui obediunt mem¬
bra omnia, et facultates reliquae. fa Lib. 2. de inteliectione. Suspiciosi ob ti-
morem et obliquum discursum ; et semper inde putant sibi fieri insidias. Lau¬
ren.' 5. c Tract, de mei. cap. 7. Ex dilatatione, coutractioae, confusione,
tenebrositate spiritnum, calida, frigida intemperie, &c. d Iliud inquisitione
dignum, cur tam falsa recipiant, habere se cornua, esse mortuos, nasutos, esse aves, &c.
308
Symptymes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. See. 3.
castorfus accounts it a thing worthy of inquisition, why they
should entertain such false conceits , as that they have horns ,
great noses, that they are birds, beasts, fyc. why they should
think themselves kings, lords, cardinals. For the first, aFra-
castorius gives two reasons : one is the disposition of the body;
the other, the occasion' of the phantasie, as if their eyes be
purblind, their ears sing by reason of some cold and rlieume,
&c. To the second, Laurentius answers, the imagination, in¬
wardly or outwardly moved, represents to the understanding,
not inticements only, to favour the passion, or dislike ; but a
very intensive pleasure follows the passion, or displeasure; and
the will and reason are captivated by delighting in it. '
Why students and lovers are so often melancholy and mad,
the philosopher of bConimbra assigns this reason, because,
by a vehement and continual meditation of that wherewith
they are affected, they fetch up the spirits into the brain ; and,
with the heat brought up with them, they incend it beyond mea¬
sure ; and the cells of the inner senses dissolve their tempera¬
ture ; which being dissolved, they cannot perform their offices '
as they ought. f.
Why melancholy men are witty, (which Aristotle hath Jong
since maintained in his problems; and that ‘ all learned men,
famous philosophers, and law-givers, ad iinum fere omnes
melancholici , have still been melancholy), is a problem much
controverted. Jason Pratensis will have it understood of na¬
tural melancholy ; which opinion Melancthon inclines to, in
his book de Animd, and Marcilius Ficinus, desan. tuen. lib. I .
cap. 5) but not simple ; for that makes men stupid, heavy,
dull, being cold and dry, fearful, fools, and solitary, but rnixt
with the other humours, flegm only excepted ; and they not
adust, d but so mix t, as that blood be half, with little or no:
adustion, that they be neither too hot nor too cold. Aponensis
(cited by Jffiel ancthon) th inks it proceeds from melancholy adust,
excluding allnatural melancholy, as too cold. Paurentius epn^
demns his tenent, because adustion of humours makes men
mad, as lime burns when water is cast on it. It must be mixt
with blood, and somewhat adust ; and so that old aphorism
of Aristotle may be verified : nullum magnum mgenium
sine mixtura dementias, no excellent wit without a mix¬
ture of madness. ' Fracastorius shall decide the controversie ;
a I. Dispositio corporis. 2. Occasio imaginations. b In pro. li. de ccejo.
Vehemens et assidua cogitatio rei erga quam afficitur, spiritus in cerebrum evocat.
« Melancholici ingeniosi omnes, summi viri in artibus et rtisciplinis. si ye cireum impe-
ratoriam aut reip. disciplinary omnes fere melancholici. Aristoteles. d Adeo
miscentur, ut sit duplum sanguinis ad reliqua duo.
Mem. 8 ] Causes of these Symptomes , 3 09
a phlegmatick are dull: sanguine, lively, pleasant , accepta¬
ble and merry, but not witty : cholerick are too swift in mo¬
tion, and furious, impatient of contemplation, deceitful wits :
melancholy men have the most excellent wits, but not all ; this
humour may be hot or cold, thick or thin ; if too hot, they are
furious and mad ; if too cold, dull, stupid, timorous and sad:
if temperate, excellent, rather inclining to that extream of
heat, than cold. This sentence of his will agree with that of
Heraclitus ; a dry light makes a wise mind ; temperate heat
and driness are the chief causes of a good wit ; therefore, saith
jElian, an elephant is the wisest of all bruit beast, because his
brain is dryest, et ob atrce bills copiam : this reason Cardan
approves {subtil. 1. 12). Jo. Baptista Silvaticus, a physician .of
Milan (in his first controversie) hath copiously handled this
question ; Ralundus, in his problems, Cselius Rhodoginus,
lib. 17. Valleriola, 6t0 narrat.med. Here, de Saxonia, Tract,
post, demel.cap. 3. Lodovicus Mercatus, de infer, morb. cur.
lib. cap. 1/. Baptista VoYtn, Physiog. lib. 1. c. 13. and many
others. ~
Weeping, sighing, laughing, itching, . trembling, sweating,
blushing, hearing and seeing strange noises, visions, wind,
crudity, are motions of the body, depending upon these pre¬
cedent motions of the mind. Neither are tears affections, but
actions (as Scaliger holds) : b the voice of such as are afraid
trembles because the heart is shaken (Conimb. prob. 6.
sec.3. desom.) Why they stut or faulter in their. speech, Mer-
curialis and Montaltus {cap. 17) give like reasons out of Hip¬
pocrates, c driness, which makes the nerves of the tongue tor¬
pid. Fast speaking, (which is a symptome of some few)
Aetius will have caused Afrom abundance of wind, and swift¬
ness of imagination: e baldness comes from excess of dryness ;
hirsuteness from a dry temperature. The cause of much wak¬
ing in a dry brain, continual meditation, discontent, fears, and.
cares, that suffer not the mind to be at rest : incontinency is
from wind, and an hot liver (Montanus, cons. 26). Rumbling-,
in the guts is caused from wind, and wind from ill concoc¬
tion, weakness of natural heat, or a distempered heat and cold ;
f palpitation of the heart, from vapours ; heaviness and aking,
from the same cause. That the belly is hard, wind is a cause,
and of that leaping in many parts. Redness of the face, and
a Lib. 2. de intellectione. Pingui suat Minerva. pMegmatici : sangoinei amabiles,
grati, hilares, at non ingeniosi ; cholerici celeres motu, et ob id contemplationis im-
patientes : melancholi-ci solum excellentes5_&c. b Trepidantium vox tremnla,
qui cor quatitur. c Ob ariditatem quae reddit nervos lingua torpidos.
d Incontinentia lingua ex copia flatuum, et velocitate imaginationis. eCalvities
ob siecitatis excessum. f Aetius.
310 Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
itching-, as if they were flea-bitten, or stung with pis-mires,
from a sharp subtile wind : acold sweat, from vapours arising
from the hypocondries, which pitch upou the skin; leanness
for want of good nourishment. Why their appetite is so great,
b Aetius answers : os ventris frigescit, cold in those inner
parts, cold belly and hot liver, causeth crudity ; and intention
proceeds from perturbations ; cour soul, for want of spirits,
cannot attend exactly to so many intentive operations; being
exhaust, and overswayed by passion, she cannot consider the
reasons which may disswade her from such affections.
d Bashfulness and blushingis a passion common to men alone,
and is not only caused from e some shame and ignominy, or that
they are guilty unto themselves of some foul fact committed,
but (as Fracastorius well determines) ob defectum propriunl,
et timorem, from fear, and a conceit of our dejects. The
face labours and is troubled at h%s presence that sees our defects;
and nature, willing to help, sends thither heat ; heat draws
the subtilest blood; and so we blush. They that are bold,
arrogant, and careless, seldom or never blush, but such as are
fearful. Anthonius Lodovicus, in his book de pudor e, will
have this subtil blood to arise in the face, not so much for the
reverence of our betters in presence, but for joy and pleasure,
or if any thing at unawares shall pass from us, a sudden ac¬
cident , occurse, or meeting, (which Disarms, in h Macrobius,
confirms) any object heard or seen (for blind men never blush,
asDandinus observes ; the nightand darkness make men impu¬
dent)— or that we be staid before our betters, or in company
we like not, or if any thing molest and offend us — erubescentia
turns to rubor, blushing to a continuate redness. * Sometimes
the extremity of the ears tingle, and are red, sometimes the
whole face, eisi nihil vitiasum commiseris , as Lodovicus holds :
though Aristotle is of opinion, omnis pudor ex vitio commisso,
all shame for some offence. But we find otherwise ; it may as
well proceed k from fear, from force, and inexperience, (so
^Dandinus holds) as vice; a hot liver, saith Duretus {notis
in Hollerium ) ; from a hot brain, from wind, the lungs
a Lanren. c. 13. bTetrab. 2. ser. 2. c. 10. <= Ant. Lodovicus prob.
lib. 1. sect. 5. de atrabilariis. d Subrusticns pudor, vitiosus pudor. e Ob
ignoininiain aut turpedinem facti, &c. fDe symp. et antip. cap. 12.
Laborat facies ob prsesentiam ejus qui defectum nostrum videt ; et natura, quasi
opem latura, calorem iiluc mittit ; calor sanguinem trahit ; unde rubor. Audaces nou
rubent, &c. S Ob gaudium et voluptatem, foras exit sanguis, aut ob melioris
reverehtiam, aut ob subitum occursum, aut si quid incautius exciderit. h Com.
in Arist. de anima.~ Caeci ut plurimum impudentes. Nox facit impndentes.
i Alexander Aphrodisiensis makes all bashfulness a vertue ; eamque se refert in seipso
experiri solitum, etsi esset admodum senex. k Saspe post cibuin apti ad
ruborem, ex potu vini, ex timore saspe, et ab hepate calido, cerebro calido, &g.
i Com. in Arist. de anima. Tam a vi et inexperjentia quam a vitio.
Mem. 3.] Causes of these Symptomes, 311
heated, or after drinking of wine , strong drink, perturba¬
tions, SfC.
Lausfbter, what it is, saith a Tally, how caused , where, and
so suddenly breaks out, that, desirous to stay it, we cannot,
how it comes to possess and stir our face, veins , eyes, counte¬
nance, mouth , sides, let Democritus determine . The cause, that
it often affects melancholy men so much, is given by Gomesius
(/. 3. de sale genial, cap. 18) — abundance of pleasant vapours,
which, in sanguine melancholy especially, break from the
heart, b and tickle the midriff, because it is transverse and full
of nerves ; by which titillation the sense being moved, and the
arteries distended, or pulled, the spirits from thence move and
possess the sides, veins, countenance, eyes. See more in Jos-
sius, de risu, et fletu, Vives, 3. de Anima. Tears, as Scaliger
defines, proceed from grief and pity, c or from the heating of
a moist brain ; for a dry cannot weep.
That they see and hear so many phantasms, chimeras, noises,
visions, &<c. (as Fienus hath discoursed at large in his book
of imagination, and dLavater, de speeds, part. 1. cap. 2, 3,4)
their corrupt phantasie makes them see and hear that which
indeed is neither heard nor seen. Qui multum jejunant, aut
nodes ducunt insomjies, they that much fast, or want sleep,
as melancholy or sick men commonly do, see visions, or such
as are weak-sighted, very timorous by nature, mad, distracted,
or earnestly seek; Sabini, quod volunt , somniant, as the
saying is ; they dream of that they desire. Like Sarmiento
the Spaniard, who, when he was sent to discover the Streights
of Magellan, and confine places, by the prorex of Peru, stand¬
ing on the top of an hill, amcenissimam planitiem despieere
sibi visusfuit, cedificia magnifica, quamplurimos pagos , alt as
turres, splendida templa, and brave cities, built like ours in
Europe; not (saith mine e author) that there was any such
thing, but that he was vanissimus et nimis credulus, and would
fain have had it so. Or (as f Lod. Mercatus proves), by reason
of inward vapours, and humours from blood, cboler, See. di-
versly mixt, they apprehend and see outwardly, as they sup¬
pose, diverse images, which indeed are not. As they that drink
wine think all runs round, when it is their own brain ; so is
it with these men ; the fault and cause is inward, as Galen
affirms; g mad men and such as are near death, quas extra se
_ y2. De oratore. Quid ipse risus, quo pacto concitetur, ubisit, &c. bDiaphragina
titillant, quia transversum et nervosum, qua tittillatione moto sensu atque arteriis dis-
tentis, spiritus inde latera, venas. Os oculos occupant. c Ex calefactione humidi
cerebri ; nam ex sicco-lacrymse non fluunt. dRes mirandas imaginantur ; etputant
se videre quas nec vident, nec audiunt.. e Laet. lib. 13. cap. 2. descript. India
Occident. fLib. 1. cap. 17. cap. de mel. sr Insani, et qui morti vicini sunt,
res, quas extra se videre putant, intra oculos habent.
VOL. I.
F F
312
Symptomes of Melancholy . [Part. 1. See, 3.
videre putant imagines, intra oculos habent ; ’tis in their brain,
which seems to be before them ; the brain, as a concave glass,
reflects solid bodies. Senes etiam decrepiti cerebrum habent
concavumetaridum,utimaginentursevidere (saitb a Boissardus)
quce non sunt ; old men are too frequently mistaken, and dote
in like case : or, as be that looketh through a piece of red glass,
judgetheverythinghesees tobered; corrupt vapours mounting
from the body to the head, and distilling again from thence to
the eyes, when they have mingled themselves with the watery
crystal which receiveth the shadows of things to be seen, make
all things appear of the same colour, which remains in the
humour that overspreads our sight, as to melancholy men all
is black, to phlegmatick all white, &c. Or else, as before, the
organs, corrupt by a corrupt phantasie, (as Lemhius, lib. 1.
cap . 16. well quotes) b cause a great agitation of spirits and
humours, which wander to and fro in all the creeks of the brain,
and cause such apparitions before their eyes. One thinks he
reads something written in the moon, as Pythagoras is said to
have done of old : another smells brimstone, hears Cerberus
bark: Orestes, now mad, supposed he saw the Furies torment¬
ing him, and his mother still ready to run upon him.
O mater! obsecro, noli me persequi
His Furiis, adspectu anguineis, horribilibus !
Ecce recce! in me jam ruunt !
but Electra told him, thus raving in his mad fit, he saw no
such sights at all ; it was but his erased imagination.
Quiesce, quiesce, miser, in linteis tuis ;
Non cernis etenim, qiias vrdere te putas..
So Pentheus (in Bacchis Euripidis) saw two suns, two
Thebes ; his brain alone was troubled. Sickness is an ordinary
cause of such sights. Cardan, subtiLS: mens cegra, laboribus
et j ejuniisfracta, facit eos videre, audire, $*c. An d. Osiander
beheld strange visions, and Alexander ab Alexandre, both
in their sickness, which he relates (de rerum varietal, lib. 8.
cap. 44) . Albategnius, that noble Arabian, on his death-bed,
saw a ship ascending and descending: which Fracastorius re¬
cords of hisfriendBaptistaTurrianus. Weak sight, and a vain
perswasion with all, may effeet as much, and second causes
concurring, as an Care in water makes a refraction, and seems
bigger, bended double, &e. The thickness of the aire may
cause such effects; or any object notwell discerned in the dark,
!Cap. 10. de spirit, apparitione.
bDe occult, nat. mirac.
Mem. 3.]
313
Causes of these Symptom.es.
fear and phantasie will suspect to be a ghost, a devil, &e.
a Quod ttimis miseri timent, hoc facile credunt : we are apt to
believe, and mistake in such cases. Marcell us Donatus (lib. 2.
cap. 1) brings in a story out of Aristotle, of one Antepheron,
which likely saw, wheresoever he was, his own image in the
aire, as in a glass. Yitellio (lib. 10. perspect .) hath such an¬
other instance of a familiar acquaintance of his, that, after the
want of three or four nights sleep, as he was riding by a river
side, saw another riding with him, and using all such gestures
as he did ; but when more light appeared, it vanished. Ere¬
mites and anachorites have frequently such absurd visions, re¬
velations, by reason of much fasting, and bad diet : many are
deceived by legerdemain, as Scot hath well shewed in his
book of the discovery of witchcraft, and Cardan, subtil, -18.
Suffites, perfumes, suffumigations, mixt candles, perspective
glasses, and such natural causes, make men look as if they
were dead, or with horse-heads, bulls-horns, and such like
brutish shapes, the room full of snakes, adders, dark, light,
green, red, of all colours, as you may perceive in Baptista
Porta, Alexis, Albertus, and others: — glow-worms,fire-drakes,
meteors, ignus fatuus, (which Plinius, lib. 2. cap. 37. calls
Castor an d Poll ux) with many such that appear in moorish
grounds, about church-yards, moist valleys, or where battles
have been fought ; the causes of which read in Gaclenius,
Yelcurius, Finkius. &c. Such feats are often done, to frighten
children, with squibs, rotten wood, &c. to make folks look as
if they were dead, bsolito majores, bigger, lesser,fairer, fouler,
ut astantes sine capitibus videaniur, aut toti igniti, aut forma
dcemonum. Accipe pilos canis nigri, Sfc. saith Albertus ; and
so ’tis ordinary to see strange uncouth sights by catoptricks;
who knows not that if, in a dark room, the light be admitted
at one only little hole, and a paper or glass put upon it, the
sun shining, will represent, on the opposite wall, all such ob¬
jects as are illuminated by his rayes ? With concave and
cylinder glasses, we may reflect any shape of men, devils,
anticks, (as magicians most part do, to gull a silly spectator in
a dark room) we will our selves, and that hanging in the air,
when ’tis nothing but such an horrible image (as c Agrippa de¬
monstrates) placed in another room. Roger Bacon of old is
said to have represented hisown image walking in the aire by
tkisart, though no such thing appearinhisperspectives. But,
a Seneca. Quod meteunt nimis, nunqnam amoveri posse nec toll! pntant. *> San¬
guis upupse cum trielle composites et centeurea, &c. Albertus. _ ' Lib. 1. occult
philos. Imperiti homines daemonum et umbrarmn imagines videre se patent, quant
nihil sint aliud, quam simulacra animae expertia.
F F 2
$14 Symptomes of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 3.
most part, it is in the brain that deceives them; although! may
not deny, but that oftentimes the devil deludes them, takes
his opportunity to suggest, and represent vain objects to me¬
lancholy men, and such as are ill affected. To these you may
add the knavish impostures of juglers, exorcists, mass-priests,
and mountebanks, of whom Roger Bacon speaks, &c. de mi -
raculis naturae et artis, cap. 1. aThey can counterfeit the
voices of all birds and bruit beasts almost, all tones and tunes
of men, and speak within their throats, as if they spoke afar
off, that they make their auditors believe they hear spirits, and
are thence much astonished and affrighted with it. Besides,
those artificial devices to over-hear their confessions, like that
whispering-place of Glocester with us, or like the Dukes place
at Mantua in Italy, where the sound is reverberated by aeon-
cave wall; a reason of which Blancanus in his Echometria
gives, and mathematically demonstrates.
So that the hearing is as frequently deluded as the sight,
from the same causes almost, as he that hears bells, will make
them sound what he list. As the fool thinketh,so the bell
clinketh. Theophilus (in Galen) thought he heard musick,
from vapours which made his ears sound, &c. Some are de¬
ceived by echoes, some by roaring of waters, or concaves and
reverberation of aire in the ground, hollow places and walls.
b At Cadurcum in Aquitany, words and sentences are repeated
by a strange echo to the full, or. whatsoever you shall play
upon a musical instrument, more distinctly and louder, than
they are spoken at first. Some echoes repeat a thing spoken
seven times, as at Olympus in Macedonia (as Pliny relates,
lib. 36. cap. 15.), some twelve times, as at Charenton, a village
near Paris in France. At Delphos in Greece heretofore was
a miraculous echo, and so in many other places. Cardan
( subtil . 1. 18) hath wonderful stories of such as have been de¬
luded by these echoes. Blancanus the Jesuite (in his Echo¬
metria) hath variety of examples, and gives his reader full satis¬
faction of all such sounds, by way of demonstration. cAt
Barrey, an isle in the Severn mouth, they seem fo hear a smiths
forge,: so at Lipara, and those sulphureous isles, and many
such like which Olaus speaks of in the continent of Scandia,
and thosenorthern countries. Cardan (dererum var. 1. 15.0.84)
mentioneth a woman, thatstill supposed she heard the devil call
her, and speaking to her, (she was a painters wife in Milan)
APy.thonissse, vocum. varietatem in ventre et gutture fingentes, formant voces huma-
nasalonge vel prop'e, prout volant, ac si spiritus cum homine loqueretur ; et sonosbrn-
torum finguot, &c. b Tam clare et articulate audies repetitum, ut perfectior sit
Echo quam ipse dixeris. c Blowing of bellows, and knocking of hammers, if they
apply their ear to the cliff.
Mem. 1.]
Prognosticks of Melancholy. 315
and many such illusions and voices, which proceed most part
from a corrupt imagination.
Whence it comes to pass, that they prophesie, speak several
languages, talk of astronomy, and other unknown sciences to
them, (of which they have been ever ignorant) aI have in brief
touched: only this I will here add, that Arculanus, Bodin,
(lib. 3. cap. 6. daemon.) and some others, b hold as a manifest
token that such persons are possessed with the devil, (so doth
'Hercules de Saxonia,and Apponensis) andfitotdyto be cured
by a priest. But d Guianerius, e Montaltus, Pomponatius of
Padua, and Lemnius (lib. 2. cap. 2), refer it wholly to the
ill-disposition of the f humour, and that out of the authority of
Aristotle, prob. 30. 1, because such symptomes are cured by
purging; and as, by the striking of aflint, fire is inforced, so, by
the vehement motions of spirits, they do elicere voces inauditas,
compel strangespeeches to be spoken. Another argument he
had from Plato’s reminiscentia, which is, all out, as likely as
that which sMarsiliusFicinus speaks of his friend Pierleonus ;
by a divine kind of infusion, he understood the secrets of
nature,’ and tenents of Graecian and barbarian philosophers,
before ever he heard of, saw, or read their works: but in this
I should rather hold, with Avicenna and his associates, that
such symptomes proceed from evil spirits, which take all op¬
portunities of humours decayed, or otherwise, to pervert the
soul of man ; and besides, the humour it self is balneum dia¬
bolic the devils bath, and (as Agrippa proves) doth intice
him to seize upon them.
SECT. IV. MEMB. I.
Prognosticks of Melancholy.
Prognosticks, or signs of things to come, are either
good or bad. If this malady be not hereditary, and taken
at the beginning, there is good hope of cure; recens curationem
non habet difficilem, saith Avicenna (/. 3. Fen. 1. Tract. 4.
c. 18). That which is with laughter, of all others, is most
secure, gentle, and remiss (Hercules de Saxonia). h If that
evacuation of hcemrods, or varices which they call the water
a Memb. 1. Sub. 3. of this partition, cap. 16. in 9 Rhasis. b Signa dsemonis
nulla sunt, nisi quod loquantur ea quas ante nesciebant, ut Teutonicum aut aliud idio-
ma, &c. c Cap. 12. tract, de mel. d Tract 15. c. 4. * Cap. 9.
* Mira vis concitathumores, ardorqne vehemens mentem exagitat, quum, &c. g Prsefat.
Jamblici mysteriis. h Si melancholicis haemorrhoides supervenerint, varices, vel
(ut quibusdam placet) aqua inter cutem, solvitur malum.
316
Prognmticks of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 4.
between the skin, shall happen to a melancholy man, his misery
is ended (Hippocrates, Aphor. 6. 11). Galen (l. 6. de mothis
vulgar.com. 8) confirms the same ; and to this aphorism of
Hippocrates all the Arabians, new and old Latines, subscribe
(jVIontaJtus, c. 25. Hercules de Saxonia, Mercurial is, Vittorius,
Faventius, &c.) Skenkius (7. 1. observat. med. c. de Mania)
illustrates thisapborism, with an example of one Daniel F ederer
a coppersmith, that was long melancholy, and in the end mad
about the twenty-seventh year of his age: these varices or
water began to rise in his thighs ; and he was freed from his
madness. Marius the Roman was so cured, some say, though
with great pain. Skenkius hath some other instances of wo¬
men that have been helped by flowing of their moneths,
which before were stopped. That the opening of the haemrods
will do as much for men, all physicians joy ntly signifie, so they
be voluntary, some say, and not by compulsion. All melan¬
choly men are better after a quartane. a Jobertus saith,
scarce any man hath that ague twice. But, whether it free
him from this malady, ’tis a question ; for many physicians
ascribe all along agues for especial causes, and a quartane ague
amongst the rest. bRhasis, cont. lib. 1. tract. 9. When me¬
lancholy gets out at the superficies of the skin, or settles,
breaking out in scabs, leprosie, m, or phew, or is purged by
stools , or by the urine , or that the spleen is enlarged, and
those varices appear, the disease is dissolved. Guianerius
{cap. 5. tract. 15) adds dropsie, jaundise, dysentery, leprosie,
as good signs, to these scabs, morphews, and breaking out,
and proves it, out of the sixth of Hippocrates Aphorismes.
Evil prognosticks, on the other part. Inveterata melancho¬
lia incur abilis ; if it be inveterate, it is c in curable (a common
axiome) aut difficulter curabilis, (as they say that make the
best) hardly cured. This Galen witnesseth (7. 3. de loc. affect,
cap. 6) : d be it in whom it will, or from what cause soever,
it is ever long, wayward, tedious, and hard to be cured, if
once it be habituated. As Lucian said of the gout, she was ethe
queen of the diseases, and inexorable, may w e say of melan¬
choly. Yet Paracelsus will have all diseases whatsoever cu¬
rable, and laughs at them which think otherwise, as T. Erastus
{part. 3) objects to him; although, in another place, hereditary
diseases he accounts incurable, and by no art to be freinoved.
aCap. 10. de quartana. bCnm sanguis exit per superficiem, et residet melan¬
cholia per scabiem, morpheam nigram, vel expurgatur per inferiores partes, vel urinam,
&c. non erit, &c. splen magnificatur, et varices apparent. c.Quia jam conversain
naturam. d In quocnnque sit, a quacurique caussa, hypocon. prsesertim, semper
est lopga, morosa, nec facile curari potest. ® Regina morborum et inexorabilis,
f Game delirium, quod oritur a paucitate cerebri, incurabile. Hildesheiin, spicil. de
mania, .
317
Mem. 1.] Prognostichs of Melancholy.
Hildesheim ( spirit . 2. de mel.) holds it less dangerous, if only
s imagination be hurt , and not reason : b the gentlest is from
blood, worse from choler adust, but the worst of all from me¬
lancholy putrified. c Bruel esteemsbypochondriacal least dan¬
gerous, and the other two species(opposite to Galen) hardestto
he cured. d The cure is hard in man, but much more difficult
in women. And both men and women must take notice of that
saying of Montanus ( pro Abbate Italo ) : ethis malady doth
commonly accompany them to their grave ; physicians may ease ,
and it may lye hid for a time ; but they cannot quite cure it,
but it will return again more violent and sharp than at first, and
that upon every small occasion or err our : as in Mercuries wea¬
ther-beaten statue, that was once all over gilt, the open parts
were clean, yet there was in fimbriis aurum, in the chinks a
remnant of gold — there will be some reliques of melancholy
left in the purest bodies (if once tainted), not so easily to be
rooted out. fOftentimesit degenerates into epilepsy, apoplexy,
convulsions, and blindness, (by the authority of Hippocrates and
Galen) gall averr, if once it possess the ventricles of the brain —
Frambesarius, and Sallust Sal vianush adds, if it get into the op-
tick nerves, blindness. Mercurialis ( consil . 20) had a woman
to his patient, that from melancholy became epiieptick and
blind. 1 If it come from a cold cause, or so continue cold,
or increase, epilepsie, convulsions follow, andblindness; or else,
in the end, they are moped, sottish, and, in all their actions,
speeches, gestures, ridiculous. klf it come from an hot cause,
they are more furious and boisterous, and in conclusion mad.
Calescentem melancholiam saepius sequitur mania. 1 If it heat
and increase, that is the common event : m per circuitus, aut
semper, insanit ; he is mad by fits, or altogether: for (as mSen-
nertus contends out of Crato) there is seminarium ignis in
this humour, the very seeds of fire. If it come from melan¬
choly natural adust, and in excess, they are often daemoniacal
(Montanus).
n Seldom this malady procures death, except (which is the
greatest, most grievous calamity, and the misery of all miseries)
they make away themselves; which is a frequent thing, and
* Si sola imaginatio laedatur, et non ratio. b Mala a sanguine fervente, deterior
a bile assata, pessima ab atra bile putrefacta. ' Difficilior cura ejns quae fit vitio
corporis totius et cerebri. d Difficilis cnratu in -viris, mnlto difficilior in feminis.
e Ad interitum plerumque homines comitatur : licet medici levent plerumque, tamen
non tollunt nnquam, sed recidet acerbior quam antea, minima occasione, aut errore.
fPericulnm est, ne degeneret in epilepsiam, apoplexiam, convulsiocem, caecitatem.
s Montal. c. 25. Laurentius. Nic. Piso. b Her. de Saxonia, Aristotle, Capivaccius.
* Favent. Humor frigidns sola delirii caussa, furoris vero humor calidus. * Heur-
hins calls madness sobolem melancholias. s Alexander, 1. 1. c. 18. r*- Lib. 1.
part 2. c. 11. ' “Montalt c. 15. Rar.o mors ant nunquam, nisi sibi ipsis
inferant
318 Prognosticks of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 4.
familiar amongstthem. ’Tis a Hippocrates observation, Galens
sentence, ( etsi mortem timent , tamen plerumque sibi ipsis mor¬
tem consciscmit, L 3. de locis affect. cap. ~J) the doom of all
physicians. ’Tis Rabbi Moses aphorism, the prognosticon of
Avicenna, Rhasis, Aetius, Gordonius, Valescus, Altomarus,
Sallust Salvianus, Capivaccius, Mercatus, Hercules deSaxouia,
Piso, Bruel, Fuchsius, all, &c.
bEt ssepe usque adeo, mortis formidine, vit*
Percipit infelix odium, lucisque videndee,
Ut sibi consciscat mcerenti pectore letum.
And so far forth deaths terrour doth affright,
He makes away himself, and hates the light :
T o make an end of fear and grief of heart,
He voluntary dies, to ease his smart.
In such sort doth the torture and extremity of his misery tor¬
ment him, that he can take no pleasure in his life, but is in a
manner inforced to offer violence unto himself, to be freed
from his present insufferable pains. So some (saith cFracas-
torius) in fury, but most in despair, sorrow, fear, and out of
the anguish and vexation of their souls, offer violence to them¬
selves :for their life is ; unhappy and miserable . They can take:
no rest in the night, nor sleep : or, if they do slumber, fearful
dreams astonish them. In the day time, theyare affrighted still
by some terrible object, and torn in pieces with suspicion, fear,
sorrow, discontents, cares, shame, anguish, &c. as so many wild
horses,' that they cannot be quiet an hour, a minute of time,
but, even against their wills, they are intent, and still thinking
of it; they cannot forget it; it grinds their souls day and night;
they are perpetually tormented, a burden to themselves, as Job
was; they can neither eat, drink, or sleep. Psal. 107. 18.
Their soul abhorreth all meat, and they are brought to deaths
door , d being bound in misery and iron: ethey curse their stars
(with Job), f and day of their birth , and wish for death (for, as
Pineda and most interpreters hold, Job was even melancholy
to despair, and almost madness itself): they murmur many
times against the world, friends, allies, all man kindle ven against
God himself in the bitterness of their passion : b vivere nolunt,
mbri hesciunt; live they will not, die they cannot. And, in
2 Lib. de insan. Fabio Calvo interprete. Nonnulli violentas manus sibi infe-
runt. b Lncret. 1. 3. c Lib. 2. de Intell. Ssepe mortem sibi conscis-
cont ob timorem et tristitiam, faedio vitae affecti ob furorem et desperationem. Est
eaim infera, &c. Ergo sic perpetuo afflictati vitam oderunt, se praecipitant, his
malis carituri, ant mterficiunt se, ant tale qnid committnnt. aPsal. 107. 10.
Job, 33. fJob,6. 8. S Vi doloris et tristitise ad insaniam psene redactors.
Sen eca.
Mem. 1.]
319
Prognosticks of Melancholy.
the midst of these squalid, ugly, and such irksome dayes, they
seek at last, (finding no comfort, a no remedy in this wretched
life) to be eased of all by death. Omnia appetunt honum ;
all creatures seek the best, and for their good, as they hope,
sub specie , in shew at 1 east, vel quia mori pulchrum putant, (saith
bHippocrates) vel quia putant inde se majoribus malis liberari,
tobe freed as they wish. Though, many times, as iEsops fishes,
they leap from the frying-pan into the fire it self, yet they
hoped to be eased by this means ; and therefore, (saith Felix
c Platerus) after many tedious dayes, at last, either by drown¬
ing , hanging, or some such fearful end , they precipitate or
make away themselves : many lamentable examples are daily
seen amongst us: alius ante fores se laqtieo suspendit , (as Se¬
neca notes) alius se prcecipitavit a tecto, ne dominum stomach -
antem audiret ; alius, ne reduceretur a fug a, f err urn adegit in
viscera : so many causes there are
• - His amor exitio est, furor his- - -
love, grief, anger, madness ; and shame, &c. ’Tis a common
calamity, d a fatal end to this disease : they are condemned to a
violentdeath,byajuryof physicians,furiously disposed, carried
headlong by their tyrannizing wills, inforced by miseries; and
there remains no more to such persons, if that heavenly phy¬
sician, by his assisting grace and mercy alone, do not prevent,
(for no humane perswasion or art can help) but to be their own
butch ers,and execute themselves. Socrates his cicuta, Lucretias
dagger, Timons halter are yet to be had; Catoes knife, and
Neroes sword are left behind them, as so many fatal engines,
bequeathed to posterity, and will be used, to the worlds end,
by such distressed souls : so intolerable, unsufferable, grievous
and violent is their pain, eso unspeakable and continuate.
One day of grief is an hundred years, as Cardan observes :
’tis carnifcina hominum, angor animi , as well saith Aretasus,
a plague of the soul, the cramp and convulsion of the soul,
an epitome of hell; and, if there be an hell upon earth, it is to
be found in a melancholy mans heart :
For that deep torture may be call’d an hell.
When more is felt, than one hath power to tell.
Yea, that which scoffing Lucian said of the gout in jest, I may
truly affirm of melancholy in earnest.
a In salntis suae desperatione proponunt sibi mortis desiderinm. Oct. HoraL I. 2.
c. 5. b Lib. de insania, Sic sic jnvat ire per nmbras. cCap. 3. de mentis
alienat Moesti degnnt, dam tandem mortem, qnam timent, suspendio ant submer-
sione, ant ali qua alia si, ut mnlta tristia exempla vidimus, d Arcnlanus, in 9
Rhasis, c. 16. Cavendnm, ne ex alto se prascipitent, ant alias I cedant. eO omnium
opinionibns incogi labile maliim ! Lucian. Mortesque mille, mille, dum vivit, neces,
gerit, peritque. Heinsius, Austriaco.
320 Prognosticks of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 4.
O triste nomen ! O Diis obidile,
a Melancholia lacrymosa, Cocyti filia !
Tu Tartari specubus opacis edita
Erinnys, utero quam Megsera suo tulit,
Et ab uberibus aluit, cuique parvulse
Amarulentum in os lac Alecto dedit.
Omnes abominabilem te deemones
Produxere in lucem, exitio mortalium.
Et paullo post —
Non Jupiter fert tale telum fulminis,
Non ulla sicprocella ssevit eequoris,
Non impetuosi tanta vis est turbinis.
An asperos sustineo morsus Cerberi?
Num virus Echidnae membra mea depascitur?
Aut tunica sanie tincta Nessi sanguinis ?
. Illacrymabile et immedicabile malum hoc.
O sad and odious name ! a name so fell.
Is this of melancholy, brat of hell.
There born in hellish darkness doth it dwell.
The Furies brought it up, Megaera’s teat,
Alecto gave it bitter milk to eat :
And all conspir’d a bane to mortal men,
To bring this devil out of that black den.
Jupiters thunderbolt, nor storm at sea, .
Nor whirl-wind, doth our hearts so much dismay. ,
What? am I bit by that fierce Gerberus
Or. stung by serpents so pestiferous ?
Or put on shirt that’s dipt in Ness us blood ?
My pain’s past Cure; physick can do no good.
No torture of body like unto it ;
— . - - — Siculi non invenere tyranni
Majus tormcnturn ;
no strappadoes, hot irons, Phalaris bulls,
c - — - Nec ira De&m tantum, nec tela, nec hostis,
Quantum sola noces animis illapsa.
Joves wrath, nor devils, can
Do so much harm to th’ soul of man.
Ail fears, griefs^ suspicions, discontents, imbonities, insuaivites,
are swallowed up and drowned in this Euripus, this Irish sea,
this ocean of misery, as so many small brooks ; ’tis coagulum
omnium, cerumnarum, which d Ammianus applied to his dis¬
tressed Palladius. I say of our melancholy man, he is the
cream of humane adversity, the e quintessence, and upshot;
a Regina morborum, Gui famulantur omnes ef obediunt. Cardan. b Eben ! quis
ibtas scorpio, &c. Seneca, Act. 4. Here. CEt. « Silias Ttalicus. d Lib. 39-
* Hic omnis imbonitas et insua vitas consistit,“nt Tertalliani verbis ntar, orat. ad martyr*
Mem. 1.]
Prognostieks of Melancholy. 321
all other diseases whatsoever are butflea-bitings to melancholy,
in extent : ’tis the pith of them all,
a Hospitium est calamitatis. Quid verbis opus est?
Quamcunque malam rem quaeris, illic reperies.
What need more words ? ’tis calamities inn.
Where seek for anymischief, ’tis within ;
and a melancholy man is that true Prometheus, which is bound
to Caucasus; the true Tityus, whose bowels are still by a vulture
devoured(as poets feign); for so doth bLiIius Giraldus interpret
it of anxieties, and those of griping cares ; and so ought it to be
understood. In all other maladies we seek for help : if a leg or
an arm ake, through any distemperature or wound, or that we
havean ordinary disease, above all things whatsoeverwe desire
help and health, a present recovery, if by any means possible it
maybe procured : we will freely part with all our other fortunes,
substance, endure any misery, drink bitter poisons, swallow
those distasteful pills, suffer our joynts to be seared, to be cutoff
any thing for future health ; so sweet, so dear, so precious above
all things in this world is life : ’tis that we chiefly desire, long
and happy days; (c multos da, Jupiter, annos !) increase of years
all men wash ; but, to a melancholy man, nothing so tedious,
nothing so odious ; that which they so carefully seek to pre¬
serve, Mie abhors, he alone. So intolerable are his pains,
some make a question, graviores morbi corporis an animi,
■whether the diseases of the body or mind be more grievous :
but there is no comparison, no doubt to be made of it; multo
enim. scevior longeque est atrocior animi quam corporis crucia-
tus (Lem. I. he. 12) : the diseases of the mind are far more
grievous. - Totum Me pro miner e corpus; body and soul is
misaffected here, but the soul especially. So Cardan testifies
(de rerum. var. lib. 8. 40) : e Maximus Tyrius a Platonist, and
Plutarch, have made just volumes to prove it. f Dies adimit
cegritudinem hominibus ; in other diseases there is some hope
likely ; but these unhappy men are born to misery, past all
hope of recovery ; incurably sick ; the longer they live, the
worse they are ; and death alone must ease them.
Another doubt is made by some philosophers, whether it be
lawful for a man in such extremity of pain and grief, to make
away himself, and how those men that do so are to be cen¬
sured. The Platonists approve of it, that it is lawful in such
cases, and upon a necessity. Plotinus ( l . de beatitud. c. 7),
and Socrates himself defends it, (in Platos Phasdon) : if any
man labour of an incurable disease , he may dispatch himself j if
a Plautus. b Vit. Herculis. c Persius- 11 Quid est miserius in vita, qaam
Velle mori ? Seneca. « Tom. 2. Libello, an graviores passiones. Sec. f Ter.'
322 Prognosticks of Melancholy. [Part 1. Sec. 4.
it be to his good. Epicurus and his followers, the Cynicks,
and Stoicks.in general affirm it, Epictetus and aSeneca amongst
the rest : quamcunque veram esse viam ad libertatem ; anyway
is allowable, that leads to liberty ; b let us give God thanks ,
that no man is compelled to live against his will: c quid ad
hominem claustra, career, custodia? liberum ostium habet ;
death is always ready and at hand. V ides ilium prcecipitem
locum, illudflumen ? dost thou see that steep place, that river,
that pit, that tree ? there is liberty at hand ; effhgia servitutis
et dolor es sunt, as that Laconian lad cast himself headlong,*
(non serviam, aiebat puer) to be freed of his misery. Every
vein in thy body, if these be nimis operosi exitus, will set thee
free : quid tua refer t, finem facias an accipias ? there’s no
necessity for a man to live in misery. Malum est necessitate
vivere ; sed in necessitate vivere, necessitas nulla est. I gna¬
ws, qui sine caussd moritur ; et stultus, qui cum dolore vivit
(Idem, epi. 58). Wherefore hath our mother the earth brought
out poisons (saith d Pliny) in so great a quantity, but that men
in distress might make away themselves ? which kings. of old
had ever in readiness, ad incerta fortnnee venenum sub cus-
todepromptum (Livy writes,) and executioners alwayes at hand. '
Speusippus, being sick, was met by Diogenes ; and, carried on
v his slaves shoulders, he made his moan to the philosopher:
but, I pitty thee not, quoth Diogenes , qui, cum tails sis, vivere
sustines : thou maist be freed when thou wilt, — meaning by
death. e Seneca therefore commends Cato, Dido, and Lucretia,
for their generous courage in so doing, and others that volun¬
tarily die, to avoid a greater mischief, to free themselves from
misery, to save their honour, or vindicate their good name, as
Cleopatra did, as Sophonisba (Syphaxwife) did, Hannibal did,
as Junius Brutus, as Yibus Virius, and those Campanian sena-
toursinLivy (Dec. 3. lib. 6), to escape the Roman tyranny, that
poisoned themselves. Themistocles drank bulls blood, rather
than he would fight against his countrey ; and Demosthenes
chose rather to drink poyson, Publius Crassi Jilius , Censorius,
and Plancus, those heroi cal Romans, to make away themselves,
than to fall into their enemies hands. How many myriads
besides in all ages might I remember,
— - - - qui sibi letum
Insontes peperere manu, &c.
f Rbasis, in the Macchabees, is magnified for it, Sampsons
death approved. So did Saul and Jonas sin ; and many
a Patet exitns ; si pugnare non vultis, licet fngere : quis vos tenet invitos ? De provid.
cap. S. b Agamus Deo gratias, quod nemo invitus vita teneri potest. c Epist. 26.
Senec. et de sacra. 2. cap. 15. et Epist. 70. et 12. d Lib. 2. cap. 83. Terra mater
nostri iniserta. e Epist. 24 71. 82. { Mac. 14. 42.
Mem. 1.] Prognosticks of Melancholy. 323
worthy men and women, quorum memoria celebratur inecclesid,
saith a Leminehus, for killing themselves to save their chastity
and honour, when Rome was taken (as Austin instances, 1. 1.
de Civit. Dei, cap. 16). Jerome vindieateih the same {in Jo -
nam) ; and Ambrose {l. 3. de virginitate ) commendeth Pela¬
gia for so doing. Eusebius {lib. 8. cap. 15) admires aRoman
matron for the same fact, to save herself from the lust of
Maxentius the tyrant. Adelhelmus, the abbot of Malmesbury,
calls them beatas virgines, quae sic , Sj-c. Titus Pomponius
Atticus, that wise, discreet, renowned Roman senator, Tullys
dear friend, when he had been long sick, as he supposed of an
incurable disease, vitamque produceret ad augendos do lores,
sine spe salutis, was resolved voluntarily by famine to dispatch
himself, to be rid of his pain; and when Agrippa and the
rest of his weeping friends earnestly besought him, oscu-
lantes obsecrarent, tie id, quodnatura cogeret, ipse acceleraret,
not to offer violence to himself — with a settled resolution lie
desired again they would approve of his good intent , and not
seek to dehort him from it ; and so constantly died, precesque
eorum taciturna sua, obstinatione depressit. Even so did
Corellius Rufus, another grave senator, (by the relation of
Plinius Secundus, epist. lib. 1. epist. 12) famish himself to
death ; pedibus correptus , cum incredibiles cruciatus et indig -
nissima tormenta pater etur, a cibis omnino abstinuit :■ neither
he nor Hispulla his wife could divert him; but destihatus
mori obstinatemagis, Sf-c. die he would, and die he did. So did
Lyc'urgus, Aristotle, Zeno, Chrysippus, Empedocles, with
myriads, &c. In warrs, for a man to run rashly upon imminent
danger, and present death, is accounted valour and magnani¬
mity; bto be the cause of his own and many a thousands ruine
besides, to commit wilful murther in a manner, of himself and
others, is a glorious thing ; and he shall be crowned for it. The
c Massagetm in former times, d Barbiccians, and I know not
whatnationsbesides, did stifle their old men, after seventy years,
to free them from those grievances incident to that age. So
did the inhabitants of the island of Choa ; because their aire
was pure and good, and the people generally long lived, ante-
vertebant fatum suum, priusquam manci forent, aut imbe-
cillitas accederet, papavere vel cicuta ; with poppy or hem¬
lock they prevented death. Sr Thomas Moore, in his Utopia,
commends voluntary death, if he be sibi aut aliis molestus,
troublesome to himself or others : e especially if to live be a
a Vindicatio Apoc, lib. *> As amongst Turks and others. c Bohemns, de
moribus gent. diElian. lib. 4. cap. 1. Oinnes 70 annum egressos interficiunt.
e Lib. 2. Prsesertim cum tormentum ei vita sit, bona spe* fretus, acerba via, velut a
carcere, se eximat, vel ab aliis eximi sua voluntate patiatur.
324
Prognosticks of Melancholy . [Part. 1. Sec. 4
torment to him, let him free himself with his own hands from,
this tedious life, as from a prison, or suffer himself to he freed
by others. a And ’tis the same tenent which Laertius relates
of Zeno, of old : juste sapiens sibi mortem consciscit, si in
acerbis doloribus versetur, membrorum mutilatione, aut morbis
cegre curandis, and which Plato (§. de legibus ) approves, if
old age, poverty, ignominy, &c. oppress ; and which Fabius
expresseth in effect ( Prcefat . 7. Institut.) nemo, nisi sua
culpa, diu dolet. It is an ordinary thing in China, (saith Mat;
Ricci us the Jesuit) b if they be in despair _ of better fortunes, or
tyred and tortured with misery, to bereave themselves of life ,
and many times, to spite their enemies the more, to hang at
their door. Tacitus the historian, Plutarch the philosopher*
much approve a voluntary departure, and Austin (de civ. Dei,
l. 1. c. 29) defends a violent death, so that it be undertaken in
a good cause : nemo sic mortuus , qui non fuer at aliquando
moriturus : quid autem interest, quo mortis genere vita ista
finiatur, quando ille, cui fnitur, iterum mori non cogitur?
Sj-c. no man so voluntarily dies, hut volens nolens, he must die
at last ; and our life is subject to innumerable casualties: who
knows when they may happen ? utrum satins est, nnam perpeti
moriendo, an omnes timere vivendo ?- crather suffer one, than
fear all. Death is better than a bitter life (Ec. 30. 1 7) : d and
a harder choice to live in fear, than, by once dying, to be freed
from all. Cleombrotus Ambraciotes perswaded I know not
how many hundreds of his auditors, by a luculent oration
he made of the miseries of this, and happiness of that other
life, to precipitate themselves: and (having read PI atos divine
traet de animd) for examples sake, led the way first. That
neat epigram of Callimachus will tell you as much :
Jamque vale, Soli cum. diceret Ambraciotes,
In Stygios fertur desiluisse lacus,
Morte nihil digriuin passus : sed forte Platonis
Diviui cximium de nece legit opus.
e Calenus and his Indians hated of old to die a natural death :
the Circumcellians and Donatists, loathing life, compelled
others to make them away : — with many suchf: but these are
a Nam quis, amphoram exiccans, fseccm exsorberet? (Seneca, epist. 58 ) quis in
poenas et risnm viveret ? Stulti est manere in vita, cum sit miser. h Expedit.
ad Sinas, 1. 1. c. 9. Vel bonorum desperatione, vel malornm perpessione fracti et
fatigati, vel manns violentas sibi inferunt, vel, ut inimicis suis aagre faciant, &c.
c So did Anthony, Galba, Vitellius, Otho, Aristotle himself, &c. Ajax in despair,
Cleopatra to save her honour. d Inertius deligitur diu vivere in timore tot mor-
bornm, quam, semel moriendo, nullum dienceps formidare. e Curtius, 1. 16.
fLaqueus praecisus, cont 1. 1. 5. Quidam, naufragio facto, amissis tribus liberis et.
nxore, suspendit.se ; prseeidit illi quidam ex praetereuntibns laqueum : a liberato reus,
fit maleficii. Seneca.
325
Mem. 1] Prog nosticks of Melancholy.
false and pagan positions, prophane stoical paradoxes, wicked
examples: it boots not what heathen philosophers determine in
this kind: they are impious, abominable, and upon a wrong'
ground. No evil is to be done, that good may come of it ;
reclamat Christus, reclamat scriptura ; God, and all good
men are a against it. He that stabs another, can kill his body;
but he that stabs himself, kills his own soul. b Male meretur ,
qui dot mendico, quod edat ; nam et illud quod dat, perit ; et
illi producit vitam ad miseriam : he that gives a beggar an
almes (as that comical poet said) doth ill, because be doth but
prolong his miseries. But Lactantius (/. 6. c. 7. de vero cul-
tu ) calls it a detestable opinion, and fully confutes it (lib. 3.
de sap. cap. 18) ; and S. Austin ( ep. 52. ad Macedonium,
cap. 61 .ad Dulcitiurn Trihunum) : so doth Hierom, to Mar¬
cella of Bleesillas death : non recipio tales animas, fyc-. he calls
such men martyr es stultce philosophies : so doth Gyprian ( de
duplici martyrio ) : si qui sic moriantur, aut infirmitas, aut
ambitio, aut dementia, cogit eos : ’tis meer madness so to do;
c furor est, ne moriare, mori. To this effect writes Arist. 3.
Ethic. Lipsius, Manuduc. ad Stdicam Philosophiam , lib. 3.
dissertat. 23 : but it needs no confutation. This only let me
add, that, in some cases, those d hard censures of such as offer
violence to their own persons, or in some desperate fit to
others, which sometimes they do by stabbing, slashing, & c.
are to be mitigated, as in such as are mad, beside themselves
for the time, or found to have been long melancholy, and that
in extremity : they know not what they do, deprived of reason,
judgement, all, eas a ship that is void of a pilot, must needs
impinge upon the next rock, or sands, and suffer shipwrack.
fP. Forestus hath a story of two melancholy brethren that
made away themselves, and forsofoul a fact, were accordingly
censured to be infamously buried, as in such cases they use,
to terrifie others (as it did the Milesian virgins of old : but,
upon farther examination of their misery and madness, the
censure was § revoked, and they were solemnly interred, as Saul
was by David (2 Sam. 2. 4), and Seneca well adviseth, irascere
interfectori , sed miserere interfecti ; be justly offended with
a See Lipsius, Manuduc. ad Stoi'cam philosophiam, lib. 3. dissert. 23. D. Bangs
14 Leet on Jonas. D. Abbots 6 Lect on the same prophet. b Plautus.
c Martial. d As to be buried out of Christian burial, with a stake. Idem Plato
(9. de legibus) vult separadm sepeliri, qui sibi ipsis mortem conciscunt, &c. lose their
goods, 8sc. e Navis, destituta nauclero, in terribilem aiiquem scopulum
impingit f Observat. s Seneca, tract. 1. 1. 8. c. 4. Lex, homicida
insepultus abjiciatur : contradicitur, eo quod affere sibi manus coactus sit assidnis
malis ; summam infeiicitatem suam in hoc removit, quod existimabat licere misero
326
Prognosticks of Melancholy. [Part. 1. Sec. 4.
him, as he was a murderer, but pity him now, as a dead man.
Thus of their goods and bodies we can dispose ; but what shall
become of their souls, God alone can tell ; his mercy may come
inter pontem etfontem, inter gladium et jugulum, betwixt the
bridge and the brook, the knife and the throat. Quod cuiquam
contiget, cuivis potest : who knows how he may be tempted?
It is his case; it may be thine :
a Quse sua sors hodie esl, eras fore vestra potest.
We ought not to be so rash and rigorous in our censures,
as some are : charity will judge and hope best : God be mer¬
ciful unto us all !
a Bachauan, Eleg. lib.
THE
SYNOPSIS
SECOND PARTITION.
Cure of.
melancholy
Mem.
1. From the devil, magicians, witches, &c. by
charms, spels, incantations, images, &c.
Quest. 1. Whether they can cure this,
or other such like diseases ?
Quest. 2. ‘Whether, if they can so cure, it
be lawful to seek to them for help ?
'2. Immediately from God, a Jove principium,
by prayer, &c.
3. Quest. 1. WhetherSaints and their reliques
can help this infirmity?
Quest. 2. Whether it be lawful in this
case to sue to them for aid ?
Subsect . _
1. Physician, in whom is required
or science, confidence,honesty,&c.
2. Patient, in whom is required
obedience, constancy, willing-
4. Medi- ness, patience, confidence, bounty,
ately by / &c. not to practise on himself.
Nature, \ .
which „ D, . , i Diistetical ^
concerns 3 .Phusick,\
and VPhirih r.nn- < Pharmartpntipal W
works by s*s*
'Particular to the three distinct species a
which con- <
sists of 1
Pharmaceutical y
Chirurgical
VOL. I.
G G
328
SYNOPSIS OF THE SECOND PARTITION.
1*2. Rectification of retenti
Such meats as are easie of digestion, well
dressed, hot, sod, &c. young, moist, of
good nourishment, &c.
Bread of pure wheat, well baked.
Water clear from the fountain.
Wine and drink not too strong, &c.
f Mountain birds, partridge,phfa-
p, , J sant, quails, &c.
fiesn < jjeUj capon, muttons, veai, kid,
rabbit, &c.
f Thatlive in gravelly waters, as
Fish 2 pike, pearch, trowt, sea-fish,
i solid, white, &c.
{Borage, bugloss, bawm, suc¬
cory, endive, violgts in broth,
not- raw,' &c.
p ., _ i ( Raisins of the sun, apples cor-
"I rected for wind, oranges, &c.
^ 100 l parsnips, potatoes, &c.
f At seasonable and usual times of repast, in
good order, not before the first be concoct-
l ed, sparing, not overmuch of one dish,
on and evacuation, as costiveness, venerv,
bleeding at nose, months stopped, baths, &c. ,
o * • I Naturally in the choice and site of our countrey,
e' j otl' \ dwelling-place, to be hot and moist, light, wholsome,
fied, with a 1 pleasan|^c.
igressipn o \ Artificially, by often change of air, avoiding winds, fogs,
*e alr* v tempests, opening windows, perfumes, &c,
/ Of body and mind, but moderate, «s hawking, hunting,
\ riding, shooting, bowling, fishing, fowling, walking
4. Exercise. < in fair fields, galleries, tennis, bar.
A Of mind, as chess,cards,tables,&c. to see playes, masks,
v &c. serious studies, business, all honest recreations.
5. Rectification of waking and terrible dreams, &c.
6. Rectification of passions and perturbations of the mind.
v. Subsect.
/ Cl. By using all good means -of help, confessing to a
{1. By using
friend, &c.
Avoiding all
Not giving vs
j Avoiding all occasions of his infirmity.
[ Not giving way to passions, but resisting to his utmost.
'"*2. By fair and foul means, counsel, comfort, good per-
swasion, witty devices, fictions, and if it be possible, to
satisfie his mind.
3, Musick of all sorts aptly applyed.
4. Mirth, and merry company.
f Memb .
1. General discontents . and grievances
- satisfied. '
2. Particular discontents, as deformity of
/ body, sickness, baseness of birth, &c.
V $ect' 3. Poverty and want, and such calamities
A consola- and adversities.
tory digres- ; 4 Against servitude, loss of liberty, im-
smn; con- prisonment, banishment, &c.
- tainmg re- 5. Against vain fears, sorrows for death of
meches to all ( friends, or otherwise.
discontents \g Against envy, livor, hatred, malice,
Pas?l^ns emulation, ambition, and self-love; 8cc.
of the mind 7. Against repnlses, abuses, injuries, con-
tempts, disgraces, contumelies, slanders,
and scoffs, &c.
8. Against all other grievous and ordinary
symptoraes of this disease of meisn-
SYNOPSIS' OF THE SECOND PARTITION.
'To the heart ; borage, bnglosse,
scorzonera, &c.
To the Bead ; balm, hops, nenuphar,
&c.
Liver : eupatorv, artemisia, &c.
’Herbs. / Stomach : wormwood, centory, peni-
3. Subs. royal.
Spleen ; ceteracn, ash, tamerisk.
To punfie the blood ; endive, suc¬
cory, &c.
Against wind ; origan, fennel, anni-
seed, &c.
4. Pretious stones: as smaragdes, chelidonies,
&c. Minerals ; as gold, &c.
' (< Wines; as; of hellebor,
* ' f S buglosse, tamerisk, &c.
12 fluide Syrnps of borage, bu-
.5- / glosse, hops, epithyme.
3. I ^ endive, succory, &ir.
; or f Conserves of violets, mai-
\ denhair, borage, bu-
ineSiSt' J Confections ; treacle, Mi-
f thridate, eclegmes or
V. V tinctures.
f / Diambra, dianthos,
V Diamargaritum. cali-
\ ) Diamoschnm dulce.
g hot S Electuarium de gem-
1 mis.
~ / Lmtificans Galeni et
^ f V Rhasis.
g or Diamargaritum frigi-
g t dum.
>5 solid as i j J Diarrhodon abbatis.
those aro- "A Diacorolli, diacodi-
matical / urn, with their tab-
V lets.
\ Purging ([
I Particular to the threi
*3 solid as I ..ij J Diarrhodon abbatis.
those aro- I Diacorolli, diacodi-
matical I / um, with their tab-
confec- j V lets.
Uions. vCondites of all sorts, &c.
or v rOyls of camomile, violets, roses, &c.
I Oyntments, alabastritum, populeum,
Out,. J Liniments, plasters, cerotes, cata-
wardly Y plasms, frontals, fomentations, epi-
^iised, as J themes, sacks, bags, odoraments,
posies, &c..
distinct speeies, 25 St *01- j
G 2
330
SYNOPSIS. OF THE SECOND PARTITION.
purging
melancholy,
are either
Simples -
purging
melan¬
choly.
3 .Subs.
pounds
purging
melan •
choly.
V
H Chyrurgical physick
which consists of Memb.
1. Subs. f ^.sarabacca, lawrell, white hellebor, scilla,
a« vomits \ or sea ony°D> antimony, tobacco.
C More gentle ; as sena, epithyme, polypody,
3 myrobalanes, fumitory, &c.
| Stronger ; Aloes, lapis Armenus, lapis lazuli,
v. black hellebor.
"Liquid, as potions, julips,
syrups, wine of hellebor,
\ Down-
12. Subs.
( Superior
parts.
Mouth
bugloss, &
w Solid, as lapis Armenus, and
lazuli, pills of Indy, pills of
fumitory, &c.
i Electuaries, diasena, con-
I fection of hamech, hiero-
^ logadium, &c.
Not swallowed, as gargarisms,
masticatories, &c.
Nostrils ; sneezing powders, odoraments,per-
fumes, &c.
Inferiour parts, as clysters strong and weak, and snp-
' positories of Castilian soap, honey boyled, &c.
[Phlebotomy, to all parts almost, and all the distinct
] species.
(With knife, horsleeches.
Cupping-glas
I Cauteries, and searing with hot irons, boaring.
I Dropax and sinapismus.
Alssues to several parts, and upon several occasions.
SYNOPSIS OF THE SECOND PARTITION.
331
( 1. Subsect.
Moderate diet, meat of good juice, moistning, easie of digestion. „
Good air.
Sleep more than ordinary.
Excrements daily to be voided by art or nature.
Exercise of body and mindnot too violent, or- too remiss, passions of
the mind, and perturbations to be avoided.
2. Blood-letting, if there be need, or that the blood be corrupt, in the
arm, forehead, &c. or with cupping-glasses
J Preparatives ; as syrup of borage, bugloss, epithyme,
hops, with their distilled waters, &c.
Purgers ; as Montanas and Matthiolus helleborismus,
Quercetanus syrup of hellebor, - extract of hellebor,
pul vis Hali, antimony prepared, Rulandi aqua mira-
bilis : which are used, if gentler medicines will not
take place; with Amoldus vinum buglossatum, sena,
cassia, myrobalanes, aurum potabile, or before Ha-
mech, pil. Indae. hiera. pil. de lap. Armeno, lazuli. •
| Cardans nettles, frictions, clysters, suppositories,
1 sneezings, masticatories, nasals, cupping-glasses.
I To open the haemorrhoids with horsleeches ; to apply
horsleeches to the forehead without scarification, to
I " the shoulders, thighs.
I Issues, boaring, cauteries, hot irons in the suture of
V the crown.
/■ A cup of wine or strong drink.
V Bezoars stone, amber, spice.
J Conserves of borage, bugloss, roses,- fumitory,
j Confection of alchermes.
r Electuarium Iceiificans G'aleni et Rhasis, fyc.
v Diamargaritum frig. diaboraginatum, Sfc.
^"Odoraments of roses, violets.
Irrigations of the head, with the decoctions ofnymphea,
lettice, mallows, &c.
Epithemes, oyntments, bags to the heart.
Fomentations of oyl for the belly-
Baths of sweetwater, in which were sod mallows, vio-
lets,roses,water-lillies,borage flowers,rams heads,&c. *
( Poppy, nymphea, lettice.
5. Cordi¬
als, resol¬
vers, hin-
derers.
6. Correct-
Inwardly I
taken, ( or ^
Com- «
i pounds. |
J roses, purslane, hen-
P J bane, mandrake, night-
V shade, opium, &c.
. Liquid, as syrups of poppy,
V verbasco, violets, roses.
^ Solid, as requies Nicholai,
1 Philonium Romanum,
J7 or V * laudanum, JParacelsi.
I 'C \ /'Oyls of -nymphea, poppy, violets,
roses, mandrake, nutmegs.
Odoraments of vinegar, rose-water,
opium.
Frontals of rose-cake, rose-vinegar,
nutmeg.
Oyntments, alabastritum, unguentum
populeum,simple or mixt with opium.
Irrigations of the head, feet, spunges,
musick,murmur and noise of waters.
Frictions of the head, and outward
parts, sacculi ofhenbane,wrormwood
J at his pillow, &c.
Against terrible dreams ; not to sup late, or eat pease,
cabbage, venison, meats heavy of digestion, use
bawm, harts-tongue, &c.
Against ruddiness and blushing, inward and outward
remedies.
Outward¬
ly used.
332
SYNOPSIS OF THE SECOND PARTITION.
St 2. Memb. r Diet, preparatives, purges, averters, cordials, correctors, as before;
" ' J phlebotomy, in this kind more necessary, and more frequent.
Cure of
lancholy o
the body.
WJJ Cure of
Hypochon¬
driacal or
windy raelan-
PhjehotnmyVji^ -■* _
I To correct and cleanse the blood with fumitory, sena, succory, dan-
T delion, endive, &c.
^Subsect. I.
' Phlebotomy, if need require.
Diet, preparatiyes, averters, cordials, purgers, as before, saving that
they must not be So vehement,
Use of peny-royal, worimvood, centaury sod, which alone hath cured
many,:
Tq-provoke urine with anniseed, daucus, asarum, &c. and stools, if
need be, by clysters and suppositories.
To respect the spleen, stomach, liver, hypochondrias.
To use treacle now and the n in winter.
To vomit, after meals sometimes, if it be inveterate.
MGalanga, gentian, enula, angelica,
, . calamus aroraaticus, zedoary, chi¬
na, condite ginger, &c.
, Pefiiroyal,rue, calamint, bay leaves,
33 \ and berries, scordium, bettany,
® < lavander, camomile, centaury,
JT i wormwood, cumin^ broom, orange
’ pills
T..-r Saffron, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg,
g- J pepper, musk, zedoary with wine,
r Aniseed, fennel-seed, ammi, cari,
g •< cumin, nettle, hayes, parsley, gra-
~ t na paradisi.
Dianisum, diagalanga, diaciroinum, dia-
calaminthes, electuarium de baccis
lanri, beuedicta laxativa, &c. pulvis
carminativus, et pulvis descrip. Anti-
dotario Florentine, aromaticum rosa-
- turn, Mithridate.
Outwardly used, as cupping-glasses to the hypochondries
without scarification, oyl of Camomile, rue, anniseed,
\v their decoctions, &c.
Toexpel
wind.
THE
SECOND PARTITION.
THE CURE OF MELANCHOLY.
C SECTION.
THE FIRST -? MEMBER.
i SUBSECTION.
Unlawful Cures rejected.
INVETERATE melancholy, howsoever it may seem to be
a contiuuate, inexorable disease, hard to be cured, accompany¬
ing them to their graves mostpart (as a Montan us observes), yet
many times it may be helped, even that which is most violent,
or at least (according to the same b author) it may be mitigated
and much eased. Mil desperandum. It may be hard to cure,
but not impossible for him that is most grievously affected, if
he be but willing to be helped.
Upon this good hope I will proceed, using the same method
in the cute, which I have formerly used in the rehearsing of
the causes; first general , then particular ; and those accord¬
ing to their several species. Of these cures some be lawful ,
others again unlawful, which, though frequent, familiar, and
often used, yet justly censured, and to be controverted : as,
first, whether, by these diabolical means, which are commonly
practised by the devil and his ministers, sorcerers, witches,
magicians, &c. by spells, cabalistical words, charms, cha¬
racters, images, amulets, ligatures, philtres, incantations, &c.
this disease and the like may be cured? and, if they may,
whether it be lawful to make use of them, those magnetical
cures, or for our good to seek after such means in any case?
The first, whether they can do any such cures, is questioned
a Goasil. 235. pro Abbate Halo. b Consil. 2-3. Ant earabiic?, aut certe mines
afficietnr, si volet.
334
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 1.
amongst many writers, some affirming, some denying. Vale-
sius, cont. med. lib. 5. cap. 6. Mellius Maleficor. Heurnius,
l. 3. praCt. med. cap. 28. Coslius, lib. 16. c. 16. Delrio,
tom. 3. Wierus, lib. 2. prcestig. deem. Libanius, Lavater,
de sped. part. 2. cap. 7. Holbrenner the Lutheran in Pisto-
rium, Polydor/Virg. /. 1. de prodig. Tandlerus, Lemnius,
(Hippocrates and Avicenna amongst the rest) denythatspirits
or devils have any power over us, and refer all (with Ponipo-
natius of Padua) to natural causes and humours. Of the other
opinion are Bodinus, Dcemonomantice, lib. 3. cap. 2. Arnoldus,
Marcellus Empiricus, J. Pistorius, Paracelsus, Apodix. Magic.
Agrippa, lib. 2. de occult. Philos, cap. 36. 69. 7L 72. et l. 3.
c. 23. et 10. Marcilius Ficinis, de vit. coelit.compar. cap. 13.
15. 18..21. Sfc. Galeottus, de promiscua doct. cap. 24. Jo-
vianusPontanus, Tom.%. Plin. lib. 28. c. 2 . Strabo, lib. 15.
Geog. Leo Suavius ; Goclenius, de ung. armar. Oswoldus
Crollius, Ernestus Burgravius, Dr. Flud, &c. — Cardan (de
subt.) brings many proofs out of Ars JVbtoria, and Solomons
decayed works, old Hermes, Artesius, Costaben Luca, Pica-
trix, &c. that such, cures may be done. They can make fire it
shall not burn, fetch back thieves or stoln goods, shew their
absent faces in, a glass, make serpents lye still, stanch blood,
salve gouts, epilepsies, biting of mad dogs, toofh-ach, melan¬
choly, et omnia mundi mala, make men immortal, young
again, as the ^Spanish marquess is said to have done by one of
his slaves, and some, which juglers in b China maintain still (as
Tragaltius writes) that they can do by their extraordinary skill
in physick, and some of our modern chymists by their strange
limbecks, by their spels, philosophers stones and charms.
c Many doubt, saith Nicholas Taurellus, whether the de¬
vil can cure such diseases he hath not made ; and some flatly
deny it : howsoever common experience confirms to our astonish¬
ment, that magicians can work such feats, and that ttie de¬
vil without impediment can penetrate through all the parts of
our bodies, and cure such maladies, by means to us unknown.
Daneus.in histract de Sortiariis,%o bs cr i bes tothisofTaureJJns;
Erastus (de Larniis) maintaineth as much; and so do most di-
vines, that, out of their excellent knowledge and longexperience,
they can commit d agehtes cum patientibus, coiligere semina
rerum, eaque mater ice applicare, as Austin infers (deCiv. Pei,
a Vide Renatum Morey, Anim. in scholam Sal era it. c. 38. Si ad 40 annos possent
producere vitam, enr non ad centum ? si ad centum, cur non ad triille ? b Hist
Ghinensium. c Alii dnbitant an daemon possit morbos curare quos non fecit: alii
negant ; sed qnotidiana experientia confirraat, magos magno multorum stupore morbos
curare, singulas corporis partes citra impedimentiim permeare, et mediis nobis ignotis
curare. d Agentia cum patientibus conjungunt.
Patient.
335
Mem. I. Subs. I.]
et de Trinit. lib. 3. cap. 7* et 8) : they can work st upend and
admirable conclusions ; we see the effects only, but not the
causes of them. Nothing' so familiar as to hear of such cures.
Sorcerers are too common ; cunning- men, wizards, and white-
witches (as they call them), in every village, which, if they be
sought unto, will help almostall infirmities of body and mind —
servatores in Latine ; and they have commonly S*. Catherines
wheel printed in the roof of their mouth, or in some other part
about them ; resistunt incantatorum prcestigiis, (aBoissardus
writes) morbosa sagismotos propulsant, Sf-c. that to doubt of it
any longer, bor not to believe , were to run into that other scep¬
tical extreme of incredulity , saith Taurellus. Leo Suavius
(in his comment upon Paracelsus) seemes to make it an art,
which ought to be approved : Pistorius and others stifly main¬
tain the use of charmes, words, characters, &c. Ars vera est;
sed pauci artifices reperiuntur ; the art is true, but there be
but a few that have skill in it. Marcellus Donatus (lib. 2. de
hist. mir. cap. 1) proves, out of Josephus eight books of anti¬
quities, that c Solomon so cured all the diseases of the mind by
spels, charmes, and drove away devils , and that Eleazar did
as much before Vespasian. Langius (in his med. epist.) holds
Jupiter Menecrates,that did so many stupend cures in his times,
to have used this art, and that he was no other than a magician.
Many famous cures are daily done in this kind ; the devil is an
expert physician (as Godelman calls him, lib. 1. c. 18): and
God permits oftentimes these witches and magicians to pro¬
duce such effects, as Lavater (cap. 3. lib. 8. part. 3. cap. 1),
Polyd. Virg. (lib. 1. de prodigiis), Delrio, and others, admit.
Such cures may be done; and Paracels. (Tom. 4. demorb.
ament.) stifly maintains, d they cannot otherwise be cured but
by spels, seals, and spiritual physick. eArnoldus (lib. de
sigillis) sets down the making of them; so doth Rulandus,
and many others.
Hoc posito, they can effect such cures, the main question is,
whether it be lawful, in a desperate case, to crave their help,
or ask a wisards advice. ’Tis a common practice of some
men to go first to a witch, and then to a physician ; if one
cannot, the other shall :
Flectere si nequeunt Superos, Acheronta movebunt.
iIt matters not , saith Paracelsus, whether it be God or the devil,
aCap. 11. de Servat b Hsec alii rident: sed vereor, ne, dam nolumus esse
Gredali, vitium non effagiamus incredulitatis. c Refert Solomonem mentis mor-
• bos curasse, et daemones abegisse ipsos carminibus, qnod et coram Vespasiano fecit
Eleazar. d Spiritual es morbi spiritualiter curari riebent • eSigilIamex
auro pecnliari ad melancboliam, &c. f Lib. 1. de occult. Philos. Nihil re-
fejtj an Deas an diabolus, angeli an immundi spiritus, segro opens ferant. nsodo morbus
336
Cure of Melancholy . [Part. 2. Sec. 1.
any els, or unclean spirits, cure him, so that he be eased. If a
man fall into a ditch, (as he prosecutes it) what matter is it
whether a friend or an enemy help him out ? and if I be trou¬
bled with such a malady, what care J whether the devil himself,
or any of his ministers, by Gods permission, redeem me? He
calls a a magician Gods minister and his vicar, applying that of
vos estis DU prophanely to them (for which he is lashed by
T. Erastus, part, l.fol. 45) ; and elsewhere he encouragethhis
patients to have a good faith, b a strong imagination, and they
shall find the effects ; let divines say to the contrary what they
will. He proves and contends that many diseases cannot
otherwise be cured : incantatione orti, incantationecurari de¬
bent ; if they be caused by incantation, cthey must be cured by
incantation, Constantius (l. 4) approves of such remedies :
Bartolus the lawyer, Peter iErodius (rerum. Judic. lib. 3, tit. 7.),
Salieetus, Godefridus, with others of that sect, allow of them,
modo sint ad sanitatem, quce a magis fiunt, secus non ; so they
be for the parties good, or not at all. But these men are con¬
futed by Bemigius, Bodinus (deem. lib. 3. cap. 2), Godelmannus
(lib. 1. cap. 8), Wierus, Delrio, (lib. 6. queest. 2. Tom. 3.
mag. inquis.') Erastus ( de Lamiis) : all dour divines, school¬
men, and such as write cases of conscience, are against it ; the
scripture it self absolutely forbids it as a mortal sin (Levit.
cap. 18, 19, 20. Dent. 18, $-e. Rom. 8. 19). Evil is not
to be done that good may come of it. Much better it were for
such patients that are so troubled, to endure alittle misery in this
life, than to hazard their souls health for ever; and (as Delrio
counselleth) e much better dye, than be so cured. Some take
upon them to expel devils by natural remedies, and magical
exorcisms, which they seem to approve out of the practice of
the primitive church, as that above cited of Josephus, Eleazar,
Irenaeus, T ertullian, Austin. Eusebius makes mention of such ;
and magick it self hath been publickly professed in some uni¬
versities, as of old in Salamanca in Spain, and Cracovia in Po¬
land. : but condemned, anno 1318, by the chancellour and uni¬
versity of fParis. Our pontifical writers retain many of these
adjurations andfofms of exorcisms still in their church; besides
those in baptism used, they exorcise meats, and such as are pos¬
sessed, as they hold, in Christs name. Read Hieron. Mengus,
cap. 3. Pet. Tyrexi&,part.&.cap.&. what exorcisms they prescribe,
a Magas minister et vicarius Dei. bUtere forti imaginatione, et experieris
effectum ; dicant in adversum qnidquid volunt theologi. c Idem Plinius con-
tendit, qnosdam esse morbos, qni incantatiombns solum curentur. d Qui talibus
credunt, aut ad eoram domos^ eantes, ant.snis domibas introdneunt, aut interrogant,
seiant se fidemChristjanametbaptismum praevaricasse, et apostatas esse.- Austm. de
saperst. observ. Hoc pacto a Deo deficitur ad diabolum. P. Mart. eMori
_prs;stat qtjam snperstitipse sanari, Disquis. mag." 1. 2. c. 2. sect. 1. quaest. I, Tom. 3.
f P. Lumbard. - ,
Patient.
Mem. 2„]
337
besides those ordinary means of *fire, suffumigatiom,. lights,
cutting the air with swords, cap. 67* herbs, odours : of w hich
Tostatus treats, 2 Reg. cap. 16, qucest. 43. You shall find
many vain and frivolous superstitious forms of exorcisms
among them, not to be tolerated, or endured.
MEMB. II.
Lawful Cures, first from God.
Being so clearly evinced as it is,, all unlawful cures are
to be refused, it remains to treat of such as are to be admit¬
ted: and those are commonly such which God hath appoint¬
ed, b by vertue of stones, herbs, plants, meats, &c. and the
like, which are prepared and applyed to our use, by art and
industry of physicians, who are the dispensers of such treasures
for our good, and to be c honoured for necessities sake— Gods
intermediate ministers, to whom, in our infirmities, we are to
seek for help : yet not so that we rely too much, or wholly,
upon them. A. Jove principium. : we must first begin with
prayer, and then use physick ; not one without the other, but
both together. To pray alone, and reject ordinary means, is
to do like him in ^Esop, that, when his cart was stalled, lay
flat on bis back, andcryed aloud, “Help, Hercules!” but that
was to little purpose, except, as his friend advised him, rods
lute ipse annitaris, he whipt his horses withal, and put his
shoulder to the wheel. God works by means, as Christcured
the blind man with clay and spittle.
Orandum est, ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.
As we must pray for health of body and mind, so we must use
our utmost endeavours to preserve and continue it. Sohie
kind of devils are not cast out but by fasting and prayer, and
both necessarily required, not one without the other. For all
the physick we can use, art, excellent industry, is to no pur¬
pose without calling upon God :
Nil juvat immensos Cratero promittere montes :
It is in vain to seek for help, run, ride, except God bless us.
— — — - -nonSicolse dapes
d Dulcem elaborabunt saporem :
Non avium citharaeve cantus, -
aSn£6tus, gladiorum. ictus, &c. bThe Lord hath created medicines of the
earth ; .and he that is wise will not abhor them, Eccliis.'38.4. cMy son, fail not
in thy sickness, but pray unto the Lord ; and. he will make thee whole, Ecclus. 38. 9.
Hue omne principium, hue refer exitum. Her. 3. carm. Od. 6. d Musick and
fine fare Can do no good.
333
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. I.
a Non domus et fundus, non serfs acervus et auri,
jEgroto possunt domino deducere febres.
b With house, with land, with money, and with gold,
The masters fever will not be control’d.
We must use prayer and physick both together : and so, no
doubt, our prayers will be available, and our physick take
effect. ’Tis that Hezekiah practised (2 Kings 20), Luke the
Evangelist; and which we are enjoyned (Coloss. 4), not the
patient only, but the physician himself. Hippocrates, an hea¬
then, required this in a good practitioner, and so did Galen.
lib. de Plat, et Hipp. dog. lib. 9. c. 15; and in that tract of
his, an mores sequantur temp . cor. c. 11. ’tis that which he
doth inculcate, cand many others. Hyperius, (in his first book
de sacr. script, led.) speaking of that happiness and good suc¬
cess which all physicians desire and hope for in their cures,
d tells them, that it is not to be expected, except, with a true
faith, they call upon God, and teach their patients to do the like.
The council of Lateran [Canon. 22) decreed they should do so:
the fathers of the church have still advised as much. What¬
soever thou takest in hand, (saith eGregory) let God he of thy
counsel : consult with him , that healeth those that are broken
in heart, (Psal. 147. 3.) andbindeth up their sores. Other¬
wise, as the prophet Jeremy {cap. 46. 11) denounced to
VEgypt, in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt
have no health. It is the same counsel which fComineus, that
politick historiographer, gives to all Christian princes, upon oc¬
casion of that unhappy overthrow of Charles duke of Burgundy,
by means of which he was extremely melancholy, and sick to
death, in so much that neither physick nor perswasion could
do him any good,— perceiving his preposterous error belike,
adviseth all great men, in such cases, 8 to pray first to God with
all submission and penitency,to confess their sins, and then to
me physick. The very same fault it was, which the prophet
reprehends in Asa king of Juda, that he relye d more on phy¬
sick than on God, and by all means would have him to amend
a Hor. 1. 1. ep. 2. b Suit Croesi et Crassi licet, non hos Pactolus, aureas
nndas agens, eripiet unquarn e miseriis. c Scientia de. Deo debet in medico
infixa esse. Mesne Arabs. Sanat omnes Ianguores Dens. For you shall pray to your
Lord, that he would prosper that which is given for ease, and then use physick
for the prolonging of life. Ecclus. 38. 4. d Omne.s optant quamdam in me-
dicina felicitatem ; sed hanc non est quod expectent, nisi Deum vera fide invocent,
atque segros similiter ad ardentem vocationem exOitent. e Lemnius e Gregor,
exhor. ad vitam opt instit. c. 48. Quidquid meditaris aggredi aut perficere, Deum in
consilium adhibeio. f Commentar. lib. 7. Ob infelicem pugnam cou-
tristatus, in asgritudinem incidit, ita ut a medicis curari non posset. gin his
animi malis, princeps imprimis ad Deum precetur, et peccatis veniam exoret ; inde ad
medicinam, &c.
Mem. 2.]
Patient.
339
it. And ’tis a tit caution to be observed of all other sorts of
men. The prophet -David was so observant of this precept,
that, in the greatest misery and vexation of mind, he put this
rule first in practice : (Psal. 77- 3) When I am iri heaviness ,
I will think on God. (Psal. 86. 4) Comfort the soul of thy
servant, for unto thee I lift up my soul, (and verse 7.) In
the day of trouble will I call upon thee, for thou hearest me.
(Psal. 54. 1) Save me, O God, by thy name, 8fc. (Psal. 82.
Psal. 20) And ’tis the common practice of all good men :
(Psal. 107. 1 3)whentheirheartwashumbledwithheaviness,they
cryedto the Lor din their trouble, and he delivered them from
their distress. And they have found good success in so doing,
as David confesseth (Psal. 30.12): Thou hast turned my
mourning into joy ; thou hast loosed my sackcloth, and girded
me with gladness. Therefore he adviseth all others to do the
like: (Psal. 31. 24) All ye that trust in the Lgrd, be strong,
and he shall establish your heart. It is reported by a Suidas,
speaking of Hezekiah, that there was a great book of old,
of king Solomons writing, which contained medicines for all
manner of diseases, and lay open still as they came into the
temple : but Hezekiah, king of Jerusalem, caused it to be taken
away, because it made the people secure, to neglect their duty
in calling and relying upon God, out of a confidence on those
remedies. b Minutius, that worthy consul of Rome, in an ora¬
tion he made to his souldiers, was much offended with them,
and taxed their ignorance, that, in their misery, called more on
him than upon God. A general fault it is all over the world ;
and Minutius his speech concerns us all : we rely moreon phy-
sick, and seek oftner to physicians, than to God himself. As.
much faulty are they that prescribe, as they that ask, respect¬
ing wholly their gain, and trusting more to their ordinary re¬
ceipts and medicines many times, than to him that made them,
I would wish all patients in this behalf, in the midst of their
melancholy, to remember that of Siracides, (Ecc. 1. 12.)
The fear of the Lord is glory and gladness, and rejoycing .
The fear of the Lord maketh a merry heart , and giveth glad -
ness, and joy , and long life; and all such as prescribe phy-
sick, to begin in nomine Dei , as c Mesue did, to imitate Lae-
lius a Fonte Eugubinus, that, in all his consultations, still con¬
cludes with a prayer for the good success of his business ; and
aGreg. Tholos. To. 2. 1. 28. c. 7. Syntax. In vestibulo templi Solomonis liber re-
mediornm cujusqne morbi fuit, quem revulsit Ezechias, quod popnlus, neglecto Deo
nee invocato, sanitatem inde peteret. b Livius, l. 23. Strepnnt aures clamoribus
plorantium sociorum, saepius nos quam Deorum invocantium opem, c Rniandus
adjungit optimam orationem ad finem Empiricorum. Mercurialis (consil. 25) ita con-
elndit. Montanas passim, &c. et plures alii, &c.
340
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. X.
to remember thatof Crato, one of their predecessors, fu9e o,va-
ritiam; et sine oratione et invocatione Dei nihil facias ; avoid
covetousness, and do nothing* without invocation upon God.
MEMB. III.
Whether it he lawful to seek to Saints for aid in this disease .
That we must pray to God, no man doubts : but, whether
we should pray to saints in such cases, or whether they can
do us any good, it may be lawfully controverted— whether
their images, shrines, reliques, consecrated things, holy water,
medals, benedictions, those divine amulets, holy exorcisms,
and the sigh of the cross, be available in this disease. The
papists, on the one side, stilly maintain, how many melan¬
choly, mad, daemoniacal persons are daily cured at S1. Antho¬
nies church in Padua, at Sb Vitus in Germany, by our Lady
of Lauretta, in Italy, our Lady of Sichem in the Low Coun¬
treys, a quce et ccecis lumen, cegris salutem, mortuis vitam,
clgudis gressum reddit, omnes morbos corporis, animi, cu¬
rat, et in ipso's dcemones imperium exercet : she cures halt,
lame, blind, all diseases of body and mind, and commands
the devil himself, saith Lipsius : 25000 in a day come thither:
b quis nisi numen in ilium locum sic induxii ? who brought
them ? in auribus, in oculis omnium gesta , nova novitiq ;
new; news lately done; our eyes and ears are full of her
cures ; and who can relate them all ? They have a proper
saint: almost for every peculiar infirmity ; for poyson, gouts;:
agues, Petronella: S. Rbmanus for such as are possessed : Va¬
lentine for the falling* sickness ; $V Vitus for mad men, &c.
And as, of old, c Pliny reckons up gods for all diseases, (Febri
fgniim dicatum esf) Lilius Giraldus repeats many of her cerp-,
monies : all affections of the mind were heretofore accounted
gods: Love, and Sorrow, Vertue, Honour, Liberty, Contumely,
Irapudency, had their temples ; tempests, seasons. Crepitus
ventrisy Dea Va.cv.na, Dea Cloacina : there was a goddess of
idleness, a goddess of the draught or Jakes, Prema, Premun-
da, Priapus, bawdy gods, and gods for all d offices. Varro
reckons up 30000 gods ; Lucian makes Podagra (the gout) a
goddess, and assigns her priests and ministers : and Melan-
a .Lipsins. bCap. 26. ^Lib. 2. c. 7. de Deo. Morblsque in genera de-
seriptis, Deos reperimus. Selden. prolog. c. 3. de Diis Syris. Rosiniis. d See Lilii
Giraldi syntagma de Diis, &c.
341
Mem. 3.] Saints Cure rejected.
cboly comes not behind ; for, (as Austin mentioneth, lib. 4. de
Civit. Dei. cap. 9) there, was of old Angerona Dea , and she
had her chappel and feasts ; to whom (saith a Macrobius) they
did offer sacrifice yearly, that she might be pacified as well as
the rest. ’Tis no new thing, you see, this of papists; and, in
my judgement, that old doting Lipsius might have fitter dedi¬
cated his bpen, after all his labours, to this old goddess of Me¬
lancholy, than to his Virgo Halensis, and been her chaplain;
it would have becomed him better. But he, poor man, thought
no harm in that which he did, and will not be perswaded but
that he doth well ; he hath so many patrons, and honorable
precedents in the like kind, that justify as much, as eagerly,
and more than be there saith of his Lady and Mistris : read
but superstitious Coster and Gretsers Tract. de Cruce Laur.
Arcturus Fanteus, deinvoc. Sand. Bellarmine, Delrio, dis.
mag. Tom. 3. 1. 6. queest. 2. sect. 3. Greg. Tolosanus, tom. 2,
lib. 8. cap. Syntax. Strozius Cicogna, lib A. cap. 9.Tyreus,
Hieronymus Mengus ; and you shall find infinite examples of
cures done in this kind, by holy waters^reliques, crosses, ex¬
orcisms, amulets, images, consecrated beads, &c. Barradius
the Jesuit boldly gives it out, that Christs countenance, and
the Virgin Maries, would cure melancholy, if one had looked
steadfastly on them. P. Morales the Spaniard (in his book de
pulch. Jes. et Mar.) confirms the same ou t of Carthusianus,
and I know not whom, that it was a common proverb in those
daies, for such as were troubled in mind, to Say Eamus ad
videndum filmm Maries (let us see the son of Mary),' as they
do now post to S4. Anthonies in Padua, or. to S4. Hillaries at
Poictiers in France. c In a closet of that church, there is at
this day S4. Hillaries bed to be seen, to which they bring all the
mad, men in the country ; and after some prayers and other
ceremonies , they lay them down there to sleep, and so they re¬
cover. It is an ordinary thing in those parts, to send all their
mad men to S4.. Hillaries cradle. They say the like of S4. Tu-
bery in d another place. Giraldus Cambrensis (Itin. Carnb.
c. 1) tells strange stories of S, Ciricius staffe, that would cure
this and all other diseases. Others say as much (as e Hospi-
nian observes) of the Three Kings of Colen ; their names
\vritten in parchment, and hung about a patients neck, with the
sign of the crosse, will produce like effects. Read Lipoman-
nus, or that golden legend of Jacobus de Voragine, you shall
a12 Cal. Januarii ferias celebrant, ut angores et aDimi solicitudines propitiata de-
pellat. *> Hanc Diva; pennam consecravi, Lipsius. c Jodocus Sincerus,
itin. Galliae, 1617. Hue mente captos deducunt, et statis orationibns, sacrisque per-
actis, in ilium lectum dormitum ponunt, &c. «In Gallia Narbonensi. eLib.
de orig, Festornm. Collo suspensa, et pergameno inscripta, cmn signo crucis, &c.
342
Cure of Melancholy , [Part. 2. See:!.
have infinite stories,— or those new relations of our a Jesuits in
Japona and China, of Mat. Riccius^ Acosta, Loiola, Xaverius
life, &c. Jasper Belga, a Jesuit, cured a mad woman by
hanging St. Johns Gospel about her neck, and many such.
Holy water did as much in Japona, &c. Nothing so familiar
in their works, as such examples.
But we, on the other side, seek to God alone. We say with
David, (Ps. 46. 1) God is our hope and strength , and help in
trouble, ready to be found. For their catalogue of examples,
we make no other answer, but that they are false fictions, or
diabolical illusions, counterfeit miracles. We cannot deny but
that it is an ordinary thing, on SC Anthonies day in Padua, to
bring divers mad men and daemoniacal persons to be cured :
yet we make a doubt whether such parties be so affected in¬
deed, but prepared by their priests by certain oyntments and
drams, to cosen the commonalty, as b Hildesheim well saith.
The like is commonly practised in Bohemia, as Mathiohis
gives us to understand in his preface to his comment upon
Dioscorides. But we need not run so far for examples in this
kind: we have a just volume published at home to this pur¬
pose : CA declaration of egregious Popish Impostures, to
with-draw the hearts of religious men under pretence of cast¬
ing out Devils, practised by . Father Edmunds, alias Weston, a
Jesuit, and divers Romish Priests, his wicked associates, with
the several parties names, confessions* examinations, &c. which
were pretended to be possessed. But these are ordinary
tricks, only to get opinion and money, meet impostures.
vEsculapius of old, that counterfeit God, did as many famous
cures: his temple (as d Strabo relates) was daily full of pa¬
tients, and as many several tables, inscriptions, pendants, do-
naries, &c. to be seen in his church, as at this day at our Lady
of Lorettas in Italy. It was a custome, long since,
Suspendisse potenti
Vestimenta maris Deo - Hor. lib.l.od.5.
To do the like, in former times, they were seduced and deluded
as they are now. ’Tis the same devil still, called heretofore
Apollo, Mars, Neptune, Venus, JEsculapius, &c. as e Lactan-
>Em. Acosta, com. rerum in Oriente gest. a societat. Jesu, anno 1568. Epist. Gon-
salvi Fernandis. An. 1560, e Japonia. b Spicil. de mOrbis daemoniacis. Sic a
sacrificulis parati unguentis magicis corpori illitis, ut stultae plebecnlas persuadeant tales
curari a Sancto Antonio. 'Printed at London, 4to. by J. Roberts, 1605.
d Greg. 1. 8. Cujus fanum aegrotantium multitudinc refertum undiquaque, et tabellis
pendentibns, in qaibns sanati languores erant inscripti. e Mali angeli sumserunt
olim nomen Jovis, Junonis, Apollinis, &c. quos Gentiles Deos credebant : nunc S. Se¬
bastian!, Barbaras, &c. nomen habent, et aliorum.
Patient.
343
Mem. 4. Subs. 1.]
tius (lib. 2. de orig. err or is, c. 17} observes. The same Jupiter,
and those bad angels, are now worshipped and adored by the
name ofS*. Sebastian, Barbara, &c. Christopher and George
are come in their places. Our Lady succeeds Venus (as they
use her in many offices) : the rest are otherwise supplyed (as
aLavater writes) ; and so they are deluded : b and God often
winks at these impostures, became they forsake his word, and
betake themselves to the devil, as they do that seek after holy
water, crosses, eye. . (Wierus, lib. 4. cap. 3). What can these
men plead for themselves more than those heathen gods ? the
same cures done by both, the same spirit that seduceth : but
read more of the pagan gods effects in Austin, de Civitate.
Dei, l. 10 cap. 6 ; and of Aesculapius, especially, in Cicogua,
l. 3. cap , 8 : or put case they could help, why should we rather -
seek to them, than to Christ himself? since that he so c kindly
in vites us unto him : Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden,
and I will ease you (Matth. f ].} ; and we know that there is
one God, one Mediator betwixt God and man,. Jesus Christ,
(1 Tim. 2. 5), who gave himself a ransome for all men. We
know that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
(1 John, 2, 1), that there is no d other name under heaven, by
which we can be saved, hut by his, who is alwayes ready to
hear us, and sits at the right hand of God, and from e whom
we can have no repulse : solus vult, solus potest : curat uni-
versos tanquam singulos, et f unumquemque nostrum ut solum ;
we are all as one to him; he cares forms all as one; and why
should we then seek to any other but to him ?
MEMB.IV. SUBSECT. I.
Physician, Patient , Physick.
Of those diverse gifts which, our apostle Paul saith, God
hath bestowed on man, this of physick is not the least, but most
necessary, and especially conducing to the good of mankind.
Next therefore to God, in all our extremities (for of the Most
High cometh healing, Ecclus. 38. 2) we must seek to, and rely
upon the physician, s who is manus Dei (saith Hierophilus), and
to whom he hath given knowledge, that he might be glorified in
_ a Part. 2. cap. 9. de spect. Veneri substituimt virginem Mariam. b Adhsec
ludibria Deus connivet frequenter, ubi, reliclo verbo Dei, ad Satanam cnrritnr ; qnales
lii sunt, qui aquam lustralem, crucem, &c. lubricaefidei hominibns offernnt. c Carior
est ipsis homo, quam sibi. aPaul. e Bernard. f Austin. ? Ecclus. 38.
In the sight of great men, he shall be in admiration.
VOL. I.
H H
344
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 1.
his wondrous works. With such doth he heal men, arid taketh
away their pains (Ecclus. 38.6. 7): when thou hast need of Mm,
let him not go from thee. The hour may come that their enter¬
prises may have good success (ye r. 13.) It is not therefore to be
doubted, that, if we seek a physician ass we ought, we may be
eased of our infirmities— -such a one, I mean, as is sufficient, and
worthily so called ; for there be many mountebanks, quack¬
salvers, empiricks, in every street almost, and in every village,
that take upon them this name, make this noble and profitable
art to be evil spoken of and contemned, by reason of these
base and illiterate artificers : but such a physician I speak of,
as is approved, learned, skilful, honest, &c. of whose duty
Wecker, (Antid. cap. 2. et Syntax, med.) Crato, Julius Alex-
andrinus, (medic.) Heurnius, ( prax. tiled, lib. 3. cap. 1) 8?c.
treat at large. For this particular disease, him that snail take
upon him to cure it, a Paracelsus will have to be a magician, a
chymist, a philosopher, an astrologer ; Thurnesserus, Seve¬
rinus the Dane, and some other of his followers, require as
much : many of them cannot be cured but by magick. b Pa¬
racelsus is so stiff for those chymical medicines, that, in his
cures, he Will admit almost of no other physick, deriding in
the mean time Hippocrates, Galen, and all their followers.
But magick, and all such remedies, I have already censured,
and shall speakcf chemistry c elsewhere. Astrology is required
by many fatuous physicians, by Ficinus, Grato, FerheliUs,
d doubted of, and exploded by others. I will not take Upon me
to decide the controversie my self: Johannes HossurtUs,
Thomas Boderius, and Maginus in the preface to his Mathe¬
matical physick, shall determine for me. Many physicians ex¬
plode astrology in physick, (saith he) there is no use of it :
unam artem ac quasi temeriariam ihsectahfur, ac gloriam sibi
ab ejus imperitia aucupari ; but I will reprove physicians by
physicians, that defend and profess it, Hippocrates, Galen,
Avicen, &c. that count them butchers without it, homicidas
medicos astrologies, ignaros , %c. Paracelsus goes farther,
and will have his physician e predestinated to this mans cure,
and this malady, and time of cure, the scheme of eachgeniture
inspected, gathering of herbs, of administering, astrologi-
cally observed ; in, which Thurnesserus, and some iatromathe-
matical professors, are too superstitious in my judgement.
f Ilellebor will help , but not alway, not given by every
aTom. 4. Tract 3. de morbis amentium. Horum multi non nisi a magis curandi et
•-astrologis, quoniam origo ejus a coelis peteuda est. 6 Lib. de Podagra.
cSect.'5. Langius. J. Caesar Clandinus, consult. e Prasdestinatum
ad hunc curandum. _ f Helleborus curat : sed quod ab omni datus medico,
vanum est
Patient.
345
Mem. 4. Subs. 1.]
physician , fye. But these men are too peremptory and self-
conceited, as I think. But what do I do, interposing in that
which is beyond my reach ? A blind man cannot j udge of co¬
lours, nor I peradventure of these things. Only thus much I
would require, honesty in every physician, that he be not
over-careless or covetous, Harpy-like to make a prey of his
patient ; carnificis namque est (as a Wccker notes) inter ipsos
cruciatus ingens pretium exposcere, as an hungry chyrurgion
often doth produce and wier-draw his cure, so long as there
is any hope of pay,
Non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris, hirudo.
Many of them, to get a fee, will gi ve physick to every one that
comes, when there is no cause ; and they do so irritare silentem
morbum, asbHeurnius complains, stir up a silent disease, as it
often falleth out, which, by good counsel, good advice alone,
might have been happily composed, or, by rectification of those
six non-natural things, otherwise cured. This is natures belluni
inf err e, to oppugn nature, and make a strong body weak.
Arnoldus, in his eighth and eleventh Aphorisms, gives cau¬
tions against, and expressly forbiddeth it. CA wise physician
will not give physick, but upon necessity , and first try medici¬
nal dyet, before he proceed to medicinal cure. d In another
place he laughs those men to scorn, that think longis syrupis
expngnare deemones et animi phantasmata, they can purge
phaiitastieal imaginations, and the devil, by physick. Another
Caution is, that they proceed upon good grounds, if so be there
be need of physick, and not mistake the disease. They are
often deceived by the e similitude of symptomes, saith Heui*-
nius ; I could give instance in many consultations, wherein
they have prescribed opposite physick. Sometimes they go
too perfunctorily to-work, in not prescribing a just f course of
physick. To stir up the humour, and not to purge it, doth
often more harm than good, Montanus (consil. 30) inveighs
against such perturbations, that purge to the halves, tire na¬
ture. , and molest the body to no purpose. ’Tis a crabbed hu¬
mour to purge-r-and, as iLaurentius calls this disease, the re¬
proach of physicians ; Bessardus , flagellum medicorum, their
lash — and, for that cause, more carefully to be respected.
1 Antid. gen. lib. 3. cap. 2. bQuod saepe evenit, (lib. 3.,cap. 1) cam non
sit necessitas. Frustra fatigant remediis aegros, qui victus ratione curari possant.
Henmius. c Modestus et sapiens medicus nunquani properabit ad pharmacnm,
nisi cqgente necessitate. 41. Aphor. Prudenset pins medicus cibis prius medicinalibus,
quain medicinis paris morbura expellere satagat. d Brev. 1. c 18. e Simi-
litudo ssepe bonis medicinis imponit. fQui melancholieis prasbent remedia
non satis valida Longiores morbi imprimis .solertiam ^medici pos£nlant,.et fidelbr
tatem: qui enim tuiuultuarip bos tractant, vires absque alio commodo Isedunt et
franguntj&c. ^
H H 2
346
Cure of Melancholy,
[Part. 2. See. 1.
Though the patient be averse, saitb Laurentius, desire help,
and refuse itagaiu, though, he neglect his own health, itbehoves
a good physician not to leave him helpless. But, most part,
they offend in that other extream ; they prescribe too much
physick, and tire out their bodies with continual potions, to
no purpose. Aetius {telrahih, 2. 2. ser. cap. 90) will have
them by all means therefore a to give some respite to nature ,
to leave off now and then ; and Laelius a Fonte Eugubinus,
in his consultations, found it (as he there witnesseth) often
verified by experience, b that after a deal of physick to no
purpose, left to themselves, they have recovered. ’Tis that
which 'Nib.. Piso, Donatus Altomarus, still inculcate — dare
requiem natura?, to give nature rest.
SUBSECT. II.
Concerning the Patient.
W HEN these precedent cautions are accurately kept, and
that we have now got a skilful, an honest physician to our
mind, if his patient will not be conformable, and content
to be ruled by him, all his endeavours will come to no good
end. Many things are necessarily to be observed an cf continued
on the patients behalf: first, that he be not too niggardly
miserable of his purse, or think it too much he bestows upon
himself, and, to save charges, endanger his health. The Ab-
derites, when they sent for Hippocrates, premised him what
reward he would — -c all the gold they had ; if all the city were
gold, he should have it. Naaman the Syrian, when he went
into Israel to Elisha to be cured of bis leprosie, took with him
ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten
change of rayments (2 Kings, 5. 5). Another thing is, that
out of bashfuluess he do not conceal his grief : if ought trouble
his minde, let him freely disclose it.
Stultorum incurata pudor naalus ulcera celat.
By that means he procures to himself much mischief, and runs
into a greater inconvenience : he must be willing to be cured,
and earnestly desire it. Parssanitatis velle sanarifuit. (Se¬
neca) ’Tis a part of his cure to wish his own health ; and not
to defer it too long.
d Qui blandiendo dulce nutrivit malum,
Sero recusat ferre quod.subiit jugum. Et
■' . * Katurffi remissionem dare oportet. b Plerique hoc morbo medicina nihil
profacissfr visi sunt, et ajbi demissi irrvalnrrtrat. cAhderitani, ep. Hippoc.
Qaidquicl auri apnd nos est, iibenterpersolvemus, etiacisi tota urbs nostra aururn esset
d Seneca.
Mem. 4. Subs. 2.]
Patient ,
347
a Helieborum frustra, cum jam cutis eegra tumebit,
Poscentes videas ; venienti occurrite morbo.
He that by cherishing a mischief doth provoke.
Too late, at last refuseth, to cast off his yoke.
When the skin swels, to seek it to appease
With hellebor, is vain ; meet your disease.
By. this means many times, or through their ignorance in not
taking notice of their grievance and danger of it, contempt,
supine negligence, extenuation, wretchedness, and peevishness,
they undo themselves. The citizens,, I know not of what
city now, when rumour was brought their enemies were
coming, could not abide to hear it; and when the plague begins
in many places, and they certainly know it, they command
silence, and hush it up: but, after they see their foes now
marching to their gates, and ready to surprise them, they
begin to fortifie and resist when ’tis too late ; when the sick¬
ness breaks out, and can be no longer concealed, then they
lament their supine negligence : ’tis no otherwise with these
men. And often, out of prejudice, a loathing and distaste of
physick, they had rather dy, or do worse, than take any of it.
Barbarous immanity, (bMelancthon teirni.es it), and folly to be
deplored, so to contemn the precepts of health, good remedies,
and voluntarily to pull death , and many maladies, upon their
own heads : though many again are in that other extreme, too
profuse, suspicious, and jealous of their health, too apt to
take physick on every small occasion, to aggravate every
slender passion, imperfection, impediment: if their finger do
but ake, run; ride, send for a physician, as many gentlewomen
do, that are sick, without a cause, even when they will them-
. selves, upon every toy or small discontent; and when he
comes, they make it worse than it is, by amplifying that which
is not. c Hier. Capi vaccius sets it down as a common fa ult of
all melancholy persons, to say their symptornes are greater than
they are, to help themselves ; and (which Mercurialis notes,
consil. 53) to be more d troublesome to their physicians, than
other ordinary patients, that they may have change of physick.
A third thing to be required in a patient, is confidence, to
be of good chear, and have sure hope that his physician can
help him. el)amascen the Arabian requires likewise in the
a Per. 3. Sat. b De anima. Barbara tarnen inmianitate, et deploranda inscitia,
cohtemnunt praecepta sanitatis ; mortem et morbos ultro accersunt. c Consnl. 173.
e Sooltzio, Melanch. jEgrorum hoc fere proprimn est, ot graviora dicant esse. sympto-
mata, quam revera sunt. d Melanciiolici plerumque medicis sunt molesti, ut
a!ia aiiLs adjungant. ^ e Oportet infirmo imprimere salnt.em. utcunoue promittere,
etsi ipse desperet. Nulium medicamentuci tfficax. Jiisi medicus eriam fuerit fortis
imaginationis.
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 1.
348
physician himself* that he be confident he can cure him,
otherwise his physick will not be effect uall, and promise with-
all that he will certainly help him, make him beleeve so at
least. a Galeottus gives this reason, because the forme of
health is contained in the physicians minde ; and, as Galen
holds, b confidence and hope do more good than physick ; he
cures most, in whom most are confident. Axiochus, sick al¬
most to death, at the very sight of Socrates recovered his former
health. Paracelsus assigns it for an only cause why Hippo¬
crates was so fortunate in cures, not for any extraordinary
skill he had, c but because the common people had a most
strong coneeipi of his worth. To this of confidence we may
adde perseverance, obedience, and constancie, hot to change
his physician, or dislike him upon every toy ; for he that so
doth, (saithdJanus Damascen) or consults with many, falls into
many errours ; or that useth many medicines . It was a chief
caveat of e Seneca to his friend Lucilius, that he should not
alter his physician, or prescribed physick ; nothing hinders
health more : a wound can never be cured, that hath Seder all
plasters, Crato ( consil . 186) taxeth all melancholy persons of
this fault: His proper to them, if things fall hot out to theit
minde , and that they have hot present ease , to seek another
and another ; (as they do commonly that have' sore eyes)
twenty, one after another ; and they still promise all to cure
them, try a thousand remedies ; and by this means they increase
their malady, make it most dangerous, and dijficil to be cured.
They try many (saith § Montanus) and profit by hone: and
for this cause ( consil . 24) he injoyns his patient, before he take
him in hand, h perseverance and sufferance ; for, in such a
Small time, no great matter can be effected ; and upon that con¬
dition he will administer physick ; otherwise all his endevour
and Counsell would be to small purpose. And, in his 31 conn-
sell for a notable matron, he tels her, 1 if she will be cured,
she must be of a most abiding patience, juithful obedience, and
singular perseverance ; if she remit or despair, she can expect
or hope for no good success. Consil. 230, for an Italian abbot,
he makes it one of the greatest reasons why this disease is
3 De promise, doct. cap. 15. Qiioniam sanitatis formam animi medici continent,
b Spes et confidentia pins valent quam rhedicina. cFelicior in medicina db fidem
ethnicorum. d Aphoris. 89. iEsrer, qui plurimos consnlit medicos, plernmqne
in errorem singulqrum cadit. e Nihil ita sanitatem impedit, ac remediormn crebra
mntatio ; nec venit vnlnus ad cicatricem, in quo diversa medicamenta tentantnr.
fMelancholicornm proprium, quum ex eornm arbitrio non fit subito mntatio in melius,
alterare medicos, qui quidvis, &c. ■ S Consil. 31. Dnm ad varia se conferunt,
rmllo prosunt. b Imprimis "hoc statuere eportet, requiri perseverantiam, et
tolerantiam.' Exiguo enim tempore nibil ex, &c. * Si curari valt, opus est pertinaci
perseverantia, fideli obedientia, et patieatla singulari : si taedet aut desperet, nnHum
habebit effectum.
Patient.
349
Mem. 4. Subs. 2.]
so incurable, a because the parties are so restless and impa¬
tient , and will therefore have him that intends to be eased, b to
take physick, not for a moneth , ayear , but to apply himself to
their prescriptions all the dayes of his life. Last of all, it is re¬
quired that the patient be not too bold to practise upon himself,
without an approved physicians consent, or to try conclusions,
if he read a receipt in a book ; for, so many grosly mistake,
and do themselves more liarme than good, That which is con¬
ducing' to one man, in one case, the same time is opposite to
another. c An asse and a mule went laden over a brook, the
one with salt, the other with wool : the mules packe was wet by
chance; the salt melted; his burden the lighter, and he there¬
by much eased : he told the asse, who, thinking to speed as
well, wet his packe likewise at the next water; but it was much
the heavier ; he quite tired. So one thing may be good and bad
to several parties, upon divers occasions. Many things (saith
dPeuottus) are written in our books, which seem to the reader
to be excellent remedies ; but they that make use of them, are
often deceived, and take, for physick, poy son. I remember, in
Valleriolas observations, a story of one John Baptist, a Neapo¬
litan, that, finding by chance a pamphlet in Italian, written in
praise of hellebor, would needs adventure on himself, and tooke
one dram for one scruple : and, had he not been sent for, the
poor fellowhad poysoued himself. From whence be concludes
(out of Damascenus, 2. et 3. Aphoris. ) that, without exquisite
knowledge, to work out of bookes is most dangerous : how un-
savorie a thing it is to beleeve writers, arid take upon trust ,
as this patient perceived by his ownperill. I could recite such
another example, of mine own knowledge, of a friend of mine,
that, finding a receipt in Brassivola, would needs take hellebor
in substance, and try it on his own person; but, had not some
of his familiars come to visit him by chance, he had by his in¬
discretion hazarded himself. Many such I have observed;
These are those ordinary cautions, which X should thinke fit
to be noted ; and he that shall keep them, as fMontanus saith,
shall surely be much eased, if not throughly cured.
a iEgritadine amittuut patientiam ; et inde morbi incurabiles. bison ad men¬
sem aut annum, sed oportettoto vitae curriculo curationi operam dare. c Camera-
rius, emb. 55. cent 2, - d Praefat. de nar. med. In libellis qni vulgo versantur apud
literatos, incautiores multa legunt, a quibus decipiuntur, eximia illis : sed portento-
sum hauriunt venenum. eOperari ex libris, absque cognitione et solerti ingenio,
periculosum est. Unde monemur, quam insipidum scriptis auctdribus credere, quod
hie suo didicit periculo. fConsiI. 23. Haec omnia si, quo ordine decet, egerit,
vel enrabitur, vel c.erte minus afficietur.
350
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 1.
SUBSECT. 111.
Concerning Physick.
Physick itself in the last place is to be considered ; for
the Lord hath created medicines of the earth ; and he that is
wise will not abhorre them , Ecclus. 38. 4- and ver. 8. of such
doth the apothecary make a confection. Sec. Of these medi¬
cines there be divers and infinite kindes, plants, metals, ani¬
mals, &c. and those of several! natures, some good for one,
hurtful! to another : some noxious in themselves, corrected by
art, very wholsome and good, simples, mixt, &c. and therefore
left to be managed by discreet and skilful physicians,, and
thence applied to mans use. To this purpose they have in¬
vented method, and several! rules of art, to put these remedies
in order, for their particular ends. Physick (as Hippocrates .
defines it) is naught else but aaddltion and substruction ; and,
as it is required in all other diseases, so in this of melancholy
it ought to be most accurate ; it being (as b Mercurialis ac-
knowledgeth) so common an affection in these our times, and
therefore fit to be understood. Several! prescripts and me¬
thods I find in several men : some take upon them to cure all
maladies with one medicine se verally applyed, as that panacea,
aurum potabile, so much controverted in these dayes , herb a
solis, Sfc. Paracelsus reduceth all diseases to four principal!
heads, to whom Severinus, Ravelascus, Leo Suavius,and others,
adhere and imitate : those are leprosy, gout, dropsie, falling¬
sickness : to which they reduce the rest; as to leprosie, ul¬
cers, itches, furfures, scabs, &c. to gout, stone, cholick,
toothmeb, head-ach, &c. to dropsie, agues, jaundies, ca¬
chexia, & c. To the falling-sicknesse. belong palsie, verti¬
go, cramps, convulsions, incubus, apoplexie, &c. “ c If any
of these four principall be cured, (saith 'Ravelascus) all the
inferior are cured; and the same remedies commonly serve :
but this is too generall, and by some contradicted. For this
peculiar disease of melancholy, of which I am now to speak,
I find severall cures, several! methods and prescripts. They
that intend the practick cure of melancholy, saith Duretus in
his notes to Hollerius, set down nine peculiar scopes or.ends;
Savanarola prescribes seven especial! canons, iElianus Mont-
altus, cap . *2b. Faventinus, in his Em pericks, Hercules d.e Saxo-
nia, &c*. have their several] injunctions and rules, all tending
to one end. The ordinary is threefold, which 1 mean to fol-
K Fnchsius, cap. 2. lib. 1 . b In pract. med.^Hsec affeetio nosfris temporihus fre-
qnentissima : ergo maxime pertinet ad nos hajns curationem inteliigere. c Si ali-
qruis horum morborum snmmas sanatur, sanaufur omnes inferiores.
351
Mem. 1. Subs. l.J Dyet rectified.
]«\v— Ata;Tr,Tiy.7i, Pharmaceuticci, and Chirurgica, diet or
living1, apothecary, ehiru'rgery, which Wecker, Crato, Guia-
nerius, &c. and most prescribe ; of which I will insist, and
speak in their order.
SECT. II.
MEMB. I. SUBSECT. I.
Dyet rectified in substance.
Diet, victus or living, according to aFuchsius
and others, comprehend those six non-naturall things, which,
1 have before specified, are especial! causes, and, being rec¬
tified, a sole, or chief part of the cure. b Johannes Arculanus
(cap. 16. in 9 Rhasis) accounts the rectifying of these six a
sufficient: cure. Guianerius (Tract. 15. cap. 9) calls them, pro-
priant et primam curam, the principall cure : so doth Monta-
nus, Crato, Mercurialis, Altomarus, &c. first to be tried. Lem-
nius ( inslit . cap. 22) names them the hinges of our health •, c no
hope of recovery without them. Reinerus Solenander, in his
seventh consultation for a Spanish young gentlewoman, that
was so melancholy she abhorred all company, and would notsit
at table with her familiar friends, prescribes this physiek above
the rest : d no good to be done without it.- eAretaeus, (lib. 1.
cap. 7) an old physician, is of opinion, that this is enough of
it self, if the party be nottoo far gone in sicknesse. f Crato, in
a consultation of his for a noble patient, tells him plainly, that,
if his highness will keep but a good diet, he will warrant him
his former health, s Montarius, consil. 27, for a nobleman of
France, admonish eth his lordship to be most circumspect in his
diet, or else all his other physiek will h be to small purpose.
The same injunction I finde verbatim in J, Caesar Claud inus.
Respon. 34. Scoltzii consil. 183. Trallianus, cap. 16. lib. 1.
Laelius a Fonte Eugubinus often brags that he hath done
more cures in this kinde by rectification of diet, than all other
physiek besides. So that, in a word, I may say to most rne-
aInstit. cap. 8. sect.']. Vietas nomine non tam cibns etpotus, sed aer, exercitatio,
somnus, yigilia, et reliquse res sex non naturale s, continentor. b Safficit pkrnmqne
regimen rerum sex non-naturalium. cEt in his potissima sanitas consistit. -4Ni-
hil hie agendum sine exqnisita vivendi ratione, &c. e Si receDS malum sit, ad pris-
tinum 'habitant recuperandum, alia' medeia nonest opus. f Consil. S9. lib. 2. Si
celsitudo tua rectam victus rationem. &c. S Moneo, dornine, nt sis prudens ad- vic¬
tim), sine quo effitera remedia frustra adhibentnr. l" Omnia remedia irrita et vana
sine his. Novistis rue plerosque, iia iaborantes, victa pqtius quum medicamentis
curasse.
352
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec, 2.
laneholy men, as the fox said to the wesell, that could not get
out of the garner, Macra cavum repetas , quern macra sub -
isti; the six non-naturall things caused it ; arid they must cure
it. Which howsoever I treat of, as proper to the meridian of
melancholy, yet nevertheless, that which is here said, with him
in a Tully, though writ especially for the good of his friends at
Tarentum and Sicily, yet it will generally serve bmost other
diseases, and help them likewise, if it be observed.
Of the six non-naturall things, the first is diet, properly so
called, which consists in meat and drink, in which we must
consider substance, quantity, quality, and that opposite to the
precedent. In substance, such meats are generally commended,
which are c moist, easie of digestion , and not apt to engender
minde, not fry ed, nor roasted, but sod, (saith Valescus, Altoma-
rus, Piso, &c.) hot and moist, and of good nourishment.
Crato ( Consil.2\,lib. 2 ) admits roast meat, d if the burned and
scorched superficies, the brown we call it, be pared off. Sal-
vianus (lib. 2. cap. 1) cries out on cold and dry meats ; e young
flesh and tender is approved, as of kid, rabbets, chickens,
-veale, mutton, capons, hens, partridge, phesant, quailes, and
all mountain birds, which are so familiar in some parts of
Africa, and in Italy, and (as f Dublinius reports) the common
food of boores and clownes in Paleestina, Galen takes excep¬
tion at mutton; but without question he means that rammy
mutton, which is in Turkie and Asia Minor, which have those
great fleshie tailes, of 48 pound weight, as Vertomanpus wit-
nesseth, navig. lib, 2. cap.h. The lean of fat meat is best;
and all manner ofbrothes, and pottage, with borage, lettuce,
and such wholesome hearbs, are excellent good, specially of a
cock boyled ; all spoon meat. Arabians commend brains ; but
s' Laurentius (c. 8) excepts against them ; and so do many others ;
" egges are justified, as a nutritive wholsome meat: butter and
oyle may passe, but with some limitation : so 1 Crato confines
it, and to some men sparingly , at set times , or in sauce ; and
so sugar and hony are approved* k All sharp and sowre sauces
must be avoided, and spices, or at least seldom used : and so
saffron, sometimes, in broth, may be tolerated ; butthese things
may foe more freely used, as the temperature of the party is hot
a I. definibus. Tarentinis et Sicnlis. bModo non mnltum elougentur. cLib. 1,
de melan. cap. 7. Calidos et humidns cibns concoctn facilis, flatus exsortes, elm, non
assi, neque cibi firm sint. d Si interna tantnm pulpa devoretur, non superficies
torrida ab igne. e Bene nutrientes cibi ; tenella setas multum valet ; carnes non vi-
rosse, nee pingues. fHodcepor. peregr. Hierosol. s Inimiea stomacho. fNot
fryed, or buttered, but potched. s Consil. 16. Non improbatur butyrum ft oleum,
si tamenplus quam par sit non profundatur : sacchari et meiHs usus utiiiterad ciborum
condimenta comprebatur. kMercnriali3, consil. 88. Acerba omnia evitentur.
353
Mem. I. Subs* 1.] Dyet rectified.
or eokk or as he shall find inconvenience by them. The thin¬
nest, whitest, smallest wine isbest, not thick, not strong; andso
of beer, the middling is fittest. Bread of good wheat, pure, well
purged from the bran, is preferred ; Laurentius (cap. 8) would
have it kneaded with rain water, if it may be gotten.
Watery Pure, thin, light water by all means use, of good
smell and taste ; like to the ayr in sight, such as is soon hot,
soon cold, and which Hippocrates so much approves, if at least
it may be had. Rain water is purest, so that it fall not down
in great drops, and be used forthwith ; for it quickly putre¬
fies. Next to it fountain water, that riseth in the east, and
runneth eastward, from a quick running spring, from flinty,
chalky, gravelly, grounds : and the longer a river runneth, it
is commonly the purest ; though many springs do yeeld the
best water at their fountains^ The waters in hotter countries,
as in Turkie, Persia, India, within the tropicks, are frequently
purer than ours in the north, more subtile, thin, and lighter, (as
our merchants observe) by four ounces in a pound, pleasanter
to drink, as good as our beer, and some of them, as Choaspis in
Persia, preferred by the Persian kings, before wine it self.
a Clitorio quicunque sitim de fonte levarit,
Vinafugit, gaudetque meris abstemius undis.
Manyrivers,! denynot,are muddy still, white, thick, like those
in China, Nilus in iEgypt, Tibris at Rome, but after they be
setled two or three dayes, defecate and clear, very commodious,
usefull and good. Many make use of deep wels, as of old, in
the Holy Land, lakes, cisterns, when they cannot be better
provided; to fetch it in carts or gundilos, as in Venice, or
camels backs, asat Cairo inJEgypt: bRadzivilius observed8000
camels daily there, employed aboutthat business. Some keep
it in trunks, as in the East Indies, made foursquare, with de¬
scending steps; and ’tis not amiss: fori would not haveany one
so nice as that Grsecian Calis, sister to Nicephoros emperour of
Constantinople, and ? married to Dominicus Silvius, Duke of
Venice, that, out of incredible wantonness, communi aqua nti
uolebat, would use no vulgar water; but she died tanta (saith
mine authour) fcetidissimi purls copia, of so fulsome a disease,
that no water could wash her clean. d Plato would not have a
traveller lodge in a city, that is not governed by laws, or hath
not a quick stream run aing by it ; Ulml&nim animum, hoc cor -
rumpit valetudinem ; one corrupts the body, the other the
minde. But this is more than needs ; too much curiosity is
* Ovid. Met. lib. 15. *» Peregr. Hier. c The dakes of Venice were then
permitted to marry. dDe Legibus.
35 4 Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. See. 2.
naught; intimeofuecessityanywaterisallowed. Howsoever,
pure water is best, and which (as Pindarus holds) is better than
gold ; an especiall ornament it is, and very commodious to a city
(according to aVegetius) when fresh springs areincluded within
the wals : as at Corinth, in the midst of the town almost, there
was arx altissima scatensfontibus , a goodly moun t full of fresh¬
water springs: if nature afford them not, they must be had by
art. It is a wonder to read of those bstupend aqueducts ; and
infinite cost hath beenbestowed, in Romeofold, Constantinople,
Carthage, Alexandria, and such populous cities, to conveigh
good and wholsome waters: read c Frontinus,Lipsius, deadmir.
dPlinius, lib. 3. cap. 11. Strabo, in his Geogr. Thataqueduct
of Claudius was most eminent, fetched upon arches’ IS miles,
every arch 109 foot high : they had 14 such other aqueducts,
besides lakes and cisterns, 700, as I take it : e every house had
private pipes and chanels to serve them fortheiruse. PeterGil-
lius, in his accurate description of Constantinople, speaks of an
old cistern which he went down to see, 336foot longv 180 foot
broad, built of marble, covered over with arch -work, and sus¬
tained by 336 pillars, twelve foot asunder, and in 11 rowes, to
contain Sweetwater. Infinite cost in chanels and cisterns, from
Nil us to Alexandria, hath been formerly bestowed , to the ad¬
miration of these times; f their cisterns so curiously cemenfe4
and composed, that a beholder would take them to, be all of one
stone : when the foundation is laid, and cistern made, their
house is half built. That Segovian aqueduct in Spain is much
wondred at in these dayes, g upon three rows of pillars, one
above another, conveying sweet water to every house: buteach
city almost is full of such aqueducts. Amongst the rest, h be
is eternally to be commended, that brought thatnew stream to
the north side of London at his own charge; and Mr. Otho
Nicholson, founder of our water- works and elegant conduit in
Oxford. So much have all times attributed to this element,
to be conveniently provided of it. Although Galen hath taken
exceptions at such waters which run through leaden pipes,
ob cerussam quae in Us generatur, for that unctuous ceruse,
which causeth dysenteries and fluxes; * yet, as Alsarius Crucius
of Genua well answers, it is opposite to common experience,
\ - ’ . - '
\ _ .
- 2 Lib. 4. ca. 10. Magna nrbis utiiitas, cum perennes fontes muris inciuduntur; qnod
si natura non praestat, effodiendi, &c, b Opera gigantnm dicit aiiquis. cDe
aquaeduct. d Curtins fons a quadragesimo iapide in urbem opere arcuato perduc-
tas. Plin. lib. 36. 15. e Quasque dornus Roma; fistulas habebat et canales, &e.
f Lib. 2. ca. 20. Jod. a Meggen. cap. 15. pereg. Hier. Bellonius. s Cvpr. Echo-
vius, deiic. Hisp. Aqua profiuens inde in omnes fere rioaios ducitur ; in puteisquoqtie
aestivo tempore frigidissima conservator. 11 Sir Hugh Middleton,- baronet. * De
qtiaisitis med. cent. fol. 354.
355
Mem. 1. Subs. I.] Dyet rectified.
If that were true, most of our Italian cities, Montpelier in
France, with infinite others, would finde this inconvenience ;
but there is no such matter. For private families, in what
sort they should furnish themselves, let them consult with
P. Crescentius, de Agric. 1. 1. c. 4. Pamphilus Hirelacus,
and the rest.
Amongst fishes, those are most allowed ofthatlive in gravelly
or sandy waters, pi kes, pearch, trout, gudgeon, smelts, fl ou nders,
&c. Hippolytus Salvianus takes exception at carp ; but I dare
boldly say, with aDubravius, it is an excellent meat, ifit come
not from b muddy pooles, that it retain not an unsavory ta'st.
Erinaceus marinus is much commended by Oribasius, Aetius,
and most of our late writers. : '
c Crato ( [consil . 21. lib. 2) censures all manner of fruits, as
subj ect to putrefaction, yettolerable atsorne times after meales,
at second course, they keep do wn vapours, and have their use.
Sweet fruits are best, as sweet cherries, plums, sweet apples,
peare-maines, arid pippins, which Laurentius extols, as having
a peculiar property against this disease, and Plater magnifies :
omnibus modis appropriata conveniunt ; but they must be cor¬
rected for tlieir windiness : ripe grapes are good, and raysins
of the sun, musk-millions well corrected, and sparingly used.
Figs are allowed and almonds blanched. Trallianus discom¬
mends figs. dSalvianus olives and capers, which e others espe¬
cially like of, and so of pistick nuts. Montanus and Mercurialis
(out of Avebzoi’) admit peaches, fpeares, and apples baked after
meales, only corrected with sugar, and aniseed, or fennel I-seed ;
and so they may be profitably taken, because they strengthen the
stomhck, and keep down vapors. The like may he said of pre¬
served cherries, plums, marmalit of plums, quinces, &c. but
not to drink after them. "Pomegranates, lemons, oranges
are tolerated, if they be not too sharp.
h Crato will admit of no herbs, but borage, buglosg, endive,
fennell, aniseed, bawrne : Calenus and Arnold us tolerate
lettuce, spinage, beets, &c. The same Crato will allow no
roots at all to be eaten. Some approve of potatoes, parsnips,
but all corrected for winde. No raw sallets; but, as Lauren-
a De piscibus lib. Habent omnes in lautitiis, modo non sint e ccecoso loco. *> De
pise. c. 2. 1. 7. Plurimum prsestat ad utilitatem et jucunditatem. Idem Trallianus,
lib. 1. c. 16. Pisces petrosi, et molles came. «Etsi omnes putredini sunt obnoxii,
ubi secundis mensis, incepto jam priore, devorentur, commodi succi prosunt, qui dulcet
dine sunt praediti, utdulcia cerasa, poma, &c. >1 Lib. 2, cap. 1. eMontanus,
consil. 24. fPyra quse grato sunt sapore, cocta mala, pomatosta, etsacebaro vel
anisi semine conspersa, ntiliter statim a prandio vel a coenasumi possunt, eoquod ven-
triculum robqrent, et vapores caput petentes reprimand- Mont. e Puuica mala
commode permittuntur, modo non sint austera et acida. Olera omnia, piaster
boraginem, buglossum, intvbum, feniculum, anisum, melissum, vitari debent.
356
Cure of Melancholy . [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
tius prescribes, in broths; and so Crato commends many of
them: or to use borage, hops, bawme, steeped in their ordinary
drink. a Avenzoar magnifies the juice of a pomegranate, if
it be sweet, and especially rose-water, which he would have
to be used in every dish ; which they put in practice in those
hot countries about Damascus, where (if we may beleeve the
relations of Vertomanous) many hogsheads of rose-water are
to be sold in the market at once, it is in so great request
with them.
SUBSECT. 1L
Dyet rectified in quantity.
Man. alone, saith Cardan, eates and drinks without appetite,
and useth all his pleasure without necessity, animce vitio ; and
thence come many inconveniences unto him : for there is no
meat whatsoever, though otherwise wholsome and good, but,
if unseasonably taken, or immoderately used, more than the
stomaok can well beare, it will ingender cruditie, and do much
harme. Therefore c Crato advisethhis patient to eat but twice
a day, and that at his set meales, by no meanes to eat with¬
out an appetite, or upon a full stomach, and to put seven
houres difference betwixt dinner and supper: which rule if we
did observe in our colleges, it would he nmch better for our
healths : but custome, that tyrant, so prevailes, that, contrary
to all good order andrules of physick, we scarce admit of five.
If, after seven houres tarrying, he shall have no stomach, let
him defer his meal, or eat very little at his ordinary time of
repast. This very counsell was given by Prosper Calenus to
Cardinall Csesius, labouring of this disease; and d.PIateruspre-
s.cribes 'it to a patient of his, to be most severely kept. Quia-
nerius admits of three meals a day ; hut Montanus, consil . ,23.
pro Ab. Jtdlo^ ties'll im ^precisely to two. And, as he must not
eat overmuch, so he may not absolutely fast; for, as Celsus con¬
tends {lib. T), Jacchinus (15. in 9 RJiasis), e repletion and in¬
anition may both doharm in too contrary extreams. Moreover,
that which he doth eat, must be well f chewed, and not hastily
gobled; for that eauseth crudity and winde ; and by all means
a Mercurialis, pract. med. b Li. 2.de com. Solos homo edit bibitque, &c.
tonsil. 21.18. SI plus ingreaturqnam par est. et ventricnlos tolerare]possit,nocet, ,et
crnditates generat, &c; d Observat. lib. 1. Assnescat bis in die cibos snmere,
certa semper hora. - eNe.plns ingerat, cavendum, qaam ventriculus ferre. potest ;
semperque snrgat a mensa non satnr. . fSiqnideiu qui sfemimansmn velociter inge-
runt cibmnj Ventricnlo laborem infernntj et fiatus maximos promovent. Crato.
357
Mem. 1. Subs. 2.] Dyet rectified.
to eat no more than he can well digest. Some think (saith .
aTrincavellius, lib. 11. cap. 29. de cur and. part, hum.) the more
they eat , the more they nourish themselves ; eat and live, as
the proverb is, not knowing that onely repaires man which is
well concocted, not that which is devoured. Melancholy men
most part have good b appetites, but ill digestion; and for that
cause they must besure to rise with anappetite : and that which
Socrates and Disarius the physicians, in c Macrobius, so much
require, S4. Hierom injoines Rusticus,to eat and drink no more
than will dsatisfie hunger and thirst. e Lessiusthe Jesuite holds
12, 13, or 14 ounces, or in our northern countries 16 at most,
(for all students, weaklings, and such as lead an idle seden¬
tary life) of meat, bread, &c. a ft proportion for a whole day,
and as much or little more of drink. Nothing pesters the
body and ininde sooner than to be still fed, to eat and ingurgi¬
tate beyond all measure, as many do. * By overmuch eating
and continual/, feasts, they stifle nature, and choke up them¬
selves; which, had they lived coursly, or, like galley-slaves ,
been tyed to an oare, might have happily prolonged many fair
years.
A great inconvenience comes by variety of dishes, which
causeth the precedent d istemperature, * than which (saith
Avicenna) nothing is worse; to feed on diversity of meats, or
overmuch, Sertorius-like in lucent ceenare, and, as commonly
they do in Muscovie and Island, to prolong their meals all day
long, or all night. Our northern countries offend especially
in this; and we in this island (ampliter viventes in prandiis et
coenis, as h;Polydore notes) are most liberal! feeders, but to our
own hurt. 1 Persicos odi, puer, apparatus : excess of meat
breedeth sickness; and gluttony causeth cholerick diseases : by
surfeiting, many perish ; but he thatdieteth himself, prolongeth
his life, Ecclus. 37. 29, 30. We account it a great glory for a
man to have his table dailyfurnished with variety of meats : bu t
hear the physician ; he puls thee by the ear as thou sittest,and
telleth thee, k that nothing can be more noxious to thy health f
than such variety and plenty. Temperance is a bridle of gold;
a Quidam maxime eomedere nituntur, putantes earatione se vires refectnros ; igno-
rantes, non ea quse ingerunt posse vires reficere, sed qnae probe concoqunnt. b Mal¬
ta appetunt ; pauca digerunt. cSaturnal. lib. 7. cap. 4. dModicns et tempera-
tas cibns et cami et animae utilis est eHygiasticon, reg. 14. 16 uncise per diem
sufficiant, eomputato pane, carne ovis, vel aliis opsoniis, et totidem vel panlo plures
uneiaepotus. f Idem, reg. 27. Plures in domibus suis brevi tempore pascentes ex-
stinguuntur, qui, si triremibus vineti fuissent, ant gregario pane pasti, sanietincolumes
in longam aetatem vitamprorogassent. s Nihil deterius qaam diversa nutrieutia
simul adjangere, et comed'endi tempus prorogare. h-Lib. l. hist. > Hor. ad
lib. 5. ode ult. k Ciborum varietate et copiain eadem mensa nihil nocentius ho-
mini ad salatem. Fr. Valeriola, observ. 1. 2. cap, 6.
358
Cure of Melancholy . [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
and he that can use it aright, &eyo non summis viris compare,
sedsimillimum Deo judico, is liker a God than a man : for as
it will transform a beast to a man again, so will it make a man
a God. To preserve thine honour, health, and to avoid there¬
fore all those inflations, torments, obstructions, crudities, and
diseases, that come by a full diet, the best w7ay is to bfeed
sparingly of one or two dishes at most, to have ventrem bene
moratum, as Seneca calls it ;cto choose one. of many, and to
feed on that alone , as Crato adviseth his patient. The same
counsell dPresper Calenus gives to Cardiriall Cassius, to use a
moderate and simple diet: and, though his table be jovially
furnished by reason of his state and guests, yet, for his own
part, to single out some one savoury dish, and feed on it. The
same is inculcated by e Crato ( 'comil . 9; l. 2) to a noble per¬
sonage affected with this grievance : he would have his high¬
ness to dine or sup alone, without all hishonorable attendance
and courtly company, with a private fi'iend or so. fa dish or
two, a cup or Rhenish wine, &c. Montarms, consil. *24. for a
noble matron, injoyns her one dish, and by no means to drink
betwixt meals; the like, consil. 229. or not to eat till he be
an hungry ; which rule Berengarius did most strictly observe,
as Hilbertus Cenomanensis Episc. writes in his life.
— - — cui non fuit unquam
Ante sitim potus, nec cibus ante famen :
and which all temperate men doConstatttly keep. It is afre-
quent solemnity still used with us, when friends meet, to go to
the ale house or tavern; they are not sociable otherwise : and
if they visit one anothers houses, they must both eat and drink.
I reprehend it not, moderately used : but to some men nothing
can be more offensive; they had better (I speak it with Saint
s Ambrose) pour so much water in their shooes.
It much availes likewise to keep good order in our diet,
h to eat liquid things first , breaths, fish , and such meats as
are sooner corruptedin the stomach ; harder meats of digestion
must come last. Crato would have the supper less than the
dinner, which Cardan ( contradict . lib. 1. Tract. 5. contra -
aTul. orai pro JM. Marcel. b Nullus cibum sumere debet, nisi stomachns sit
vacuus. Gordon, lib. med. 1, 1. c. 11. . CE multis eduliis uaurn elige, relictisque
caeteris, ex eo comede. d L. de atra bile. * Simplex sit cibus, et non varius : quod
licet dignitati tuae ob convivas difficile videatur, &c. e Celsitudo tua prandeat
sola, absque apparatu aulico, contentus sit illustrissimus princeps duobus tantnm fercu-
lis, vmoque Rhenanq solum in mensautatur. f Semper in tra satietatem a nrtensa
recedat, uno fereulo contentus. S Lib. de Hel. et Jejunio. Multo melius in terram
vina fudisses. h Crato. Mulfum refert nori ignorare qui cibi priores. Sic. liquida
praecedant camium jura, pisces, fructus. &c. Cceaabreviorsit prandio.
359
Mem. 1. Subs. S.] Dyet rectified.
diet. 18) disallowes, and that by the authority of Galen, 7. art.
curat, cap. 6; and for four reasons he will have the supper big¬
gest. I have read many treatises to this purpose ; I know not
how it may concern some few sick men; but, for my part, ge¬
nerally for all, 1 should subscribe to that custome of the Ro-
mans, to make a sparing dinner, and a liberal supper; all their
preparation and invitation was still at supper ; no mention of
dinner. Many reasons I could give ; but when all is said pro
and con, aCardans rule is best, to keep that we are accustomed
unto, though it be naught: and to follow our disposition and ap¬
petite in some -things is not amiss ; to eat sometimes of a dish
whichishurtfui!,ifwehaveanexti’aordinarylikingtoit. Alex¬
ander Severus loved hares and apples above all other meats, as
b Lamprid us relates in his life : one pope pork, another peacock,
&c. what harm came of if? I conclude, our own experience is
the best physician : that diet which is most propitious to one, is
often pernicious to another; such is the variety of palats, hu¬
mours and temperatures, let every man observe, and be a law
unto himself. Tiberius, in cTacitus, did laugh at all such, that
after 30 years of age would ask eounsellof others concerning
matters of diet : I say the same. ’
These few rules of diet he that keeps, shall surely finde great
ease and speedy remedy by it. It is a wonder to relate that pro-
digiousTemperance of some hermites, anachorites, and fathers
of the church. He that shall but read their lives, written by
Hierom, Athanasius, &e. how abstemious heathens have bin
in this kind, those Curii and Fabricii, those old philosophers,
as Pliny records (lib. 11), Xenophon (lib. 1. de vit. Socrat.
emperoursand kings, as Nicephorus relates (Eccles. hist. lib. 1 8.
cap. 8), of Mauritius, Lodovieus Pius, &e. and that admi¬
rable d example of Lodovieus Cornarus, a patritian of Venice,
cannot but admire them. This have they done voluntarily, and
in health; what shall these private men do, that are visited with
sickness, and necessaril y e inj oyned to recover an d continue their
health? It is a hard thing to observe a strict diet; et qui me-
dice vivit misere vivit, as the saying is; quale hoc ipsum erit
vivere, his si privatus fiueris ? as good be buried, as so much
debarred of his appetite ; excessit medicina malum, the physick
is more troublesome than the disease; so he complained in
the poet, so thou thinkest: yet he that loves himself, will easily
endure' this little misery, to avoid a greater inconvenience ;
aTract. 6. contradict. 1. lib. L . b Super omnia quotidianum.leporenr habnit,
et poniis indulsifc c Annal. 6. Ridere solebat eos, qui post 30 aetatis annum, ad
cognoscenda corpori suo nosia vel ntilia, alicujus consiiii indigerect d A Lessia
edit. 1614. e iEgyptii obm omnesmorbos curabant vomitu et jejunio, Bohemns.,
lib. 1. cap. 5.
VOL. I. II
S60 Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. See. 2.
e malis minimum, , better do this than do worse. And, as aTulIy
holds, better be temperate old man , than a lascivious youth.
5Tis the only sweet thing, (which he adviseth) so to moderate
our selves, that we may have senectutem injuventuie, et in
senectute juventutem, be youthful in our old age, staid in our
youth, discreet and temperate in both.
MEMB. II.
Retention and Evacuation rectified.
I HAVE declared in the Causes, what harm costiveness hath
done in procuring this disease : if it be so noxious, the op¬
posite must needs be good, or mean at least, as indeed it is, and
to this cure necessarily required ; maxime conducit, saith Mon-
taltus, cap. 27 ; it very much availes. b Altomarus {cap. 7)
commends walking in a morning, into some fair green pleasant
fields ; but by all means first , by art or nature , he will have
these ordinary excrements evacuated. Piso calls it beneficium,
ventris, the benefit, help, or pleasure of the belly : for it doth
much ease it. Laurentius (cap. 8), Crato (consil. 21. 1. 2)
prescribes it once a day at least : where nature is defective, art
must supply, by those lenitive electuaries, suppositories, con-
dite prunes, turpentine, clisters, as shall be shewed. Prosper
Calenus (lib. de atrd bile) commends clisters, in hypochon¬
driacal! melancholy, still to be used as occasion serves. c Peter
Cnemander, in a consultation of his pro hypochondriaco , will
have his patient continually loose, and to that end sets down
there many forms of potions and clisters. Mercurialis (consil.
88), if this benefit come pot of its own accord, prescribes
d clisters in the first place : so doth Montanus, consil. 24. con¬
sil. 31. ef 229 : he commends turpentine to that purpose :
the same he ingeminates, consil 230, for an Italian abbot.
’Tis very good to wash his hands and face often, to shift his
clothes, to have fair linnen about him, to be decently and
comely attired ; for sordesvitiant, nastiness defiles, and dejects
any man that is so voluntarily, or compelled by want ; itdulleth
the spirits.
Bathes are either artificiall or naturall; both have their spe-
a Cat. Major. Melior conditio senis yiventis ex prsescriptio artis medic®, qnam ado-
lescentis luxuriosi. b Debet per amoena exerceri, et loca viridia, excretis prina
arte yel natnra alvi excrementis. c Hildesheim, spicil. 2. de mel. Primnm omnium
operant dabis ut singnlis diebns habeas beneficium ventris, semper cavendo ne air os
#it dintias astricta. d Si non sponte, clysteribns purgetur.
Mem. 2.] Retention and Evacuation rectified. 361
rial uses ia this malady, and (as a Alexander supposeth, (lib. 1.
cap. 16)yeeld as speedy a remedy, as any other physick what¬
soever. Aetias would have them daily used, assidua balnea ,
Tetra.2.sec.2. c.9. Galen crakes how many several! cures he
hath performed in this kinde by use of bathes alone, and Rufus
pills, moistning them which are otherwise dry. Rhasis makes
it a principal! cure (tot a cur a sit in humectando) to bathe and
afterwards anoint with oyle. Jason Pratensis, JLaurentius,
cap. 8, and Montanus set down their peculiar formes of artificial!
bathes. Crato (comil. 17, lib. 2) commends mallowes, camo¬
mile, violets, borage, to be boyled in it, and sometimes faire
water alone ; and in his following counsel!, balneum aquas
dulcis solum scepissime profuisse compertum, habemus. So
doth Fuchsias, lib. 1. cap. S3. Frisimelica, 2. consil. 42. in
Trincavellius. Some, beside hearbs, prescribe a rammes head
and other things to be boyled. bFernelius (consil. 44) will
have them used 10 or 12 dayes together ; to which he must
enter fasting, and so continue in a temperate heat, and, after
that, frictions all over the body. Laalius Eugubinus, consil,
342, and Christoph. JErerus in a consultation of his, hold
once or twice a week sufficient to bathe, the c water to be
warms , not hot, for fear of sweating. Felix Plater (observ.
lib. 1 . for a melancholy lawyer) d will have lotions of the head
still joy ned to these bathes , with a lee wherein capital hearbs
have been boyled . e Eaurentius speaks of bathes of milk, which
I finde approved by many others. And still, after bath, the
body to be anointed with oyl of bitter almonds, of violets, new
or fresh butter, f capons grease, especially the back bone, and
then lotions of the head, embrocations, &c. These kinde of
bathes have been in former times much frequented, and di-
versly varied, and are still in general! use in those eastern coun¬
tries. The Romanes had their publick baths very sumptuous
and stupend, as those of Antonius and Dioelesian. PI in. 36,
saith there were an infinite number of them in Rome, and
mightily frequented. Some bathed seven times a day, as Corn-
modus the emperour is reported to have done : usually twice a
day; and they were after anointed with most costly oyntments;
rich women bathed themselves in milke, some in the milke of
500 she asses at once. W e have many mines of such bathes
found in this island, among those parietines and rubbish of
aBalneorum usus dulcium, siquid aliud, ipsis opitolatur. Credo hsec dici cum aliqua
jactantia, inquit Montanos, consil. 26. bIn qnibns jejunus diu sedeat eo tem¬
pore, ne sudorem excitent aut manifestnm teporem, sed quadam refrigeratione humec-
tent. c Aqua non sit calida, sed tepida, ne sudor sequatur. d Lotiones ca¬
pitis ex lixivio, in quo herbas oapitales coxerint, eCap. 8. de mel. fAut as-
ongia pnlli. Piso.
362 Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
old Bomane townes. Lipsius (de mag. Urb. Rom. 1. 3. e. 8),
Bosin us, Scot of Antwerp, and other antiquaries, tell strange
stories of their baths. Gillius ( l . i.cap. ult. Topogr. Constant.)
reckons up 155 publicke a baths in Constantinople, of faire
building : they are still bfrequented in that citie by the Turkes
of all sorts, men and women, and all over Greece and those
hot countries; to absterge, belike, that fulsomeness of sweat,
to which they are there subject. cBusbequius,in his epistles, is
very copious in describing the manner of them, how their wo¬
men go covered, a maid following with a box of oyntment to
rub them. The richer Sort have private baths in their houses;
the poorer goe to the common, and are generally so curious
in this behalf, that they will not eat nor drink until they have
bathed ; beforeand after meals some, &andwillnot make water
( but they will wash their hands ) or go to stool. Leo Afer
(l. 3) makes mention of 100 several! baths at Fez in Africke,
most sumptuous, and such as have great revenues belonging
to them. Buxtorf (cap. 14. Synagog. Jud.) speaks of many
ceremonies amongst the Jews in this kind ; they are very su¬
perstitious in their bathes, especially women.
Naturall bathes are praised by some, discommended by
other ; but it is in a divers respect. e Marcus de Oddis, in Hyp.
affect, consulted about baths, condemns them for the heat of
the liver, because they dry too fast; and yet by and by, fin
another counsell for the same disease, he approves them be¬
cause they cleanse by reason of the sulphur, and would have
their water to be drunk. Areteeus (c. 7) commends allome
baths above the rest ; and gMercurialis ( consil . 88) those of
Luca in that hypochondriacall passion. He would have his
patient there 15 dayes together , and drink the water of them,
and to be bucketed, or have the water powred on his head.
John Baptista Silvaticus (cont. 64) commends all the baths
in Italy, and drinking of their water, whether they be iron,
allome, sulphur ; so doth h Hercules de Saxonia. But, in
that they cause sweat, and dry so much, he confines himSelf to
hypochondriacall melancholy alone, excepting that of the Lead,
and the other. Trincavellius (consil. 14. lib. 1) prefers those
* Porrectan baths before the rest, because of the mixture
. a Therm se. Nymphea. _ b Sandes, lib. 1. saith that women go twice a week to
the baths at least. <Epist. 3. d Nec alvum excernunt, qnin aqnam secnm
portent, qua partes obscoenas la vent. Busbequins, ep. 3. Turciae. e Hildesheim
spicil. 2. de mel. _ Hypochon. si non adesset jecons caliditas, thermas laudarem, etsi
non nimia humoris exsiccatio esset metuenda. fFol. 141. g Thermas
Lueenses adeat, ibique aquas ejns per 15 dies potet': et calidarum aquarum stillicidiis
turn caput turn ventriculum de more sulgiciaL . hlnpanth. ■ ‘Aqu®
Porrectan®.
363
Mem. 2.] Retention and Evacuation , rectified.
ofbrasse, iron, allome; and, consil. 35. 1. 3, for a melancholy
lawyer, and consil. 36, in that hypochondriacal passion, the
a baths of Aquaria, and, 36 consil. the drinking' of them. Fri-
simelica, consulted among the rest (in Trincavellius, consil. 42.
lib. 2) preferres the waters of bApona before all artificial!
baths whatsoever in this disease, and would have one nine
years affected with hy pochond riacall passions, flie to them, as an
holy anchor. Of the same minde is Trincavellius himself
there; and yet both put a hot liver in the same party for a
cause, and send him to the waters of CS. Helen, which are
much hotter. Bio nt anus ( consil . 230) magnifies- the d Chal-
derinian Baths ; and ( consil . 237 et 239) he exhorteth to the
same, but with this caution, e that the liver be outwardly
anointed with some coolers, that it be not overheated. But
these baths must be warily frequented by melancholy persons,
or if used to such as are very cold of themselves; for, as Ga-
belius concludes of all Dutch baths, and especially those of
Baden, they are good for all cold diseases, f naught for cho-
lerick, hot and dry , and all infirmities proceeding of choler ,
inflammations of the spleen and liver. Our English baths,
as they are hot, must needs incur the same censure: but
D. Turner of old, and D. Jones, have written at large of them.
Of cold baths I find little or no mention in any physician :
some speak against them: s Cardan alone (out of Agatliinus)
commends bathing in fresh rivers, and cold waters, and ad-
viseth all such as mean to live long' to use it ; for it agrees
with all ages and complexions, and is most profitable for hot
temperatures . As for sweating, urine, bloua-letting by haem-
rods, or otherwise, I shall elsewhere more opportunely speak
of them;
Immoderate: Venus, in excess, as it is a cause, or in defect ;
so, moderately used, to some parties an only help, a present
remedy. Peter Forestus calls it, aptissimum remedium , a most
apposite remedy, h remitting anger, and reason, that was other*
wise bound. Avicenna ( Fen. 3. 20 ), Oribasius (med.. collect,
lib. 6. cap. 37), contend, out of Ruff us and others, * that
many mad men, melancholy, and labouring of the falling sick -
ness, have been cured by this alone . Montaltus (cap. 27.
a Aquas Aquariae. b Ad aquas Aponenses, velat ad sacram anchoram, con-
fagiat. c John Beauhinus (li. 3. ca. 14. hist, admir. fontis Bollensis in ducat.
Wittemberg) laudat aquas Bollenses ad melancholicos morbos, maerorem, fascina-
tionem, aliaque animi pathemata. ^Balnea Chalderina. eHepar exteme
nngatur, ne calefiat. f Nocent calidis et siccis, cholericis, et omnibus morbis ex
cholera, hepatis, splenisque affectionibus._ gLib.de aqua. Qui breve hoc vita
curriculum cupiunt sani feansigere, frigidis aquis ssepe lavare debent, nulli aetat} cum
sit incongrua, calidis imprimis utilis. h_Solvit Venus rationis vim impeditam,
ingentes iras remittit, &c. 'Multi comitiales, melancholici, insani, hujus usu
solo sanatL
864 Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
de melan.) will have it drive away sorrow, and all illusions of
the brain, to purge the heart and brain from ill smoakes and
vapours that offend them ; a and if it he omitted , as Valescus
supposeth, it makes the mind sad, the body dull and heavy.
Many other inconveniences are reckoned up by Mercatus,
and by Rod ericas a Castro, in their tracts de melancholia vir-
ginum et monialium : oh setninis retentionem, seeviunt scepe
moniales et virgines ; but, as Plateras addes, si nuhant, sanan-
tur ; they rave single, and pine away ; much discontent ; but
marriage mends ali. Marcellus Bonatus {lib. 2. med. hist,
cap. I.) tells a storie to confirm this, out of Alexander Bene¬
dicts, of a maid that was mad, oh menses inhibitos .* cum in
officinam meritoriam incidisset, a quindecim viris e&dem node
compressa, mensium largo profluvio, quod pluribus annis ante
constiierat, non sine magno pudore, mane, menti restituta,
discessit. But this must be warily understood ; for as Arnol-
dus objects, lib. 1. breviar. 18. cap. quid coitus ad melan-
cholicum succum ? What affinity have these two? b except it
he manifest that superabundance of seed or fulness of blood
be a cause , or that love, or an extraordinary desire of Venus,
have gone before , or that, as Lod. Mercatus excepts, they be-
very flatuous, and have been otherwise accustomed unto it.
Montaltus {cap. 27) will not allow of moderate Venus to such
as have the gout, palsie, epilepsie, melancholy, except they
be very lusty, and full of blood. cJLodovicus Antonins, lib.
med. miscel. in his chapter of Venus, forbids it utterly to
all wrestlers, ditchers, labouring men, &c. dFicinus and
e Marsilius Cognates put Venus one of the five mortall ene¬
mies of a student : it consumes the spirits , and weakeneth the
brain. Halyabbasthe Arabian (5. Theor. cap. 36), and Jason
Pratensis, make it the fountain of most diseases, f but most
pernicious to, them who are cold and dry ; a melancholy man
must not meddle with it, but in some cases. Plutarch, in his
book de san. tuend. accounts of it as one of the three princi¬
pal! signs and preservers of health, temperance in this kinde :
sto rise with an appetite, to be ready to work, and abstain
from venery, tria saluberrima. are three most healthful things.
W e see their opposites, how pernicious they are to mankinde, as
to all other creatures theybringdeath,andmanyferall diseases :
a Si omittatur coitus, contristat et plurimum gravat corpus et animum. b Nisi
certo constet nimium semen aut sanguinem caussam esse, aut amor praBcesserit, ant,
&c. c Athletis, arthriticis, podagricis nocet ; nec opportuna prodest, nisi fortibus,
et qui mnlto sanguine abundant. Idem Scaliger, exerc. 269. Torcis ideo luctato-
ribus prohibitum. a De sanit tuend. lib, 1. _ eLib. 1. ca. 7. Eshaurit enim
spiritus, animumque debilitat. f Frigidis et siccis corporibus inimicissima, sYetci
intra satietatem, impigrum esse ad laborem, vitale semen conservare.
365
Mem. 2.] Retention and Evacuation rectified.
Immodieis brevis est setas et rara senectus.
Aristotle gives instance in sparrows, which are parum vivaces
ob salacitatem, ashort lived because of their salacity, which is
very frequent, as Scoppius, in Priapeis, will better inform you.
The extremes being both had, bthe medium is to be kept,
which cannot easily be determined. Some are better able to
sustain, such as are hot and moist, phlegmatick, as Hippo¬
crates insinuateth, some strong and lustie, well fed like c Her¬
cules, d Proculus the emperour, lusty Laurence, e prostihulum
femince^ Messalinathe empress, that by philters, and such kinde
of lascivious meats, use all means to finable themselves, and
brag of it in the end; confodi multas enim,occidi vero paucas
per ventrem vidisti , as that Spanish s Celestina merrily said:
others impotent, of a cold and dry constitution, cannot sustain
those gymnicks without great hurt done to their own bodies;
of which number (though they be very prone to it) are me¬
lancholy men for the most part.
MEMB. III.
Ayr rectified. With a digression of the Ayr.
As a long-winged hawk, when he is first whistled off the
fist, mounts aloft, and for his pleasure fetcheth many a circuit
in the ayr, still soaring higher and higher, till he be come
to his full pitch, and in the end, when the game is sprung,
comes down amain, and stoopes upon a sudden ; so will I,
havingnowcome at last into those ample fields of ayre, wherein
I may freely expatiate and exercise myself for my recreation,
a while rove, wander round about the world, mount aloft to
those sethereall orbs andcelestiall spheres, and so descend to my
former elements again : in which progress, I will first see
whether that relation of the h Frier of Oxford be true, con¬
cerning those northern parts under the pole, (if I meet obiter
with the wandring Jew, Elias, Artifex, or Lucians Icarome-
nippus,they shallbe my guides) whether there be such4 Euripes,
_aNequitia est, quse'te non sinit esse senem. _ b Vide Montanum, Pet. Gode-
fridum, Amornm lib. 2. cap. 6. Curiostun de his, nam et numernm definite Tal-
mudistis, unicuique sciatis assignari snum tempos, &c. cThespiadas gennit.
d Vide Lampridium, vit. ejus 4. e Et lassata viris, &c. t Vid. Mizald.
cent. 8. 11. Lemnium, lib. 2. cap. 16. Catnllnm ad Hypsithillam, &c. Ovid. Eleg.
lib, 3. et 6, &c. Qnot itinera ana nocte confecissent, tot coronas lndicro Deo puta
Triphallo, Marsise, Henns, Priapo, donarent. Cingemns tibi mentnlam coronis,
&c. ^Pornoboscodid, Gasp. Barthii. h Nich. de Lynna, cited by Mercator
*a his Map.
366
Cure of Melancholy . [Part. 2. Sec. 2
and a great rock of loadstones, which may cause the needle
in the compass still to bend that way, and what should be the
true cause of the variation of the compass, ais it a magneticall
rock, or the pole-star, as Cardan will; or some other star in the
bear, as Marsilius Ficinus; or a magneticall meridian, as
Maurolicus ; vel situs in vena terrce, as Agricola ; or the near¬
ness of the next continent, as Cabeus will ; or some other
cause, as Scaliger,Cortesius, Conimbricenses, Peregrin us, con¬
tend; why at the Azores it looks directly north, otherwise
not? In the Mediterranean or Levant (as some observe) it
varies 7 grad, by and by 12, and then 22. In the Baltick
Seas, near Rasceburg in Finland, the needle runs round, if
any ships come that way, though Martin b Ridley write other¬
wise, that the needle near the pole will hardly be forced
from his direction. ’Tis fit to be enquired whether certain
rules may be made of it, as 11 grad. Lond. variat. alibi 36,
Sfc. and, that which is more prodigious, the variation varies in
the same place: now taken accurately, ’tis so much; after . a
few years, quite altered from that it was : till we have better
intelligence, let our D. Gilbert and Nicholas c Cabeus the Je-
suite, that have both written great volumes of this subject,
satisfie these inquisitors. Whether the seabe open and navigable
by the pole arctick, and which is the likeliest way, that of
Bartison the Hollander, under the pole itself, which for some
reasons I hold best ; or by f return Davies, or Nova Zembla.
Whether dHudsons discovery be true of a newfound ocean,
any likelihood of Buttons bay in 50 degrees, Hubberds hope
in 60; that of ut ultra near Sir Thomas Roes welcome in
north-west Fox, being that the sea ebbs and flows constantly
there 15 foot in 12 hours; as our enew cards inform- us
that California is not a cape, but an iland, and the west-
windes make the nepe tides equal! to the spring, or that there
be any probability to pass by the straights of Anian to China,
by the promontory of Tabin. If there be, 1 shall soon per¬
ceive whether f Marcus Pol us the Venetians narration be true
or false, of that great city of Quinsay and Cambalu ; whether
there be any such places, or that, assMatth. Riccius the Jesuite
hath written, China and Cataia be all one, the great Cham
of Tartary and the king of China be the same : Xuntain
and Quinsay, and the city of Cambalu be that new Paquin,
or such a wall 400 leagues long to part China from Tar-
r a Mons. Sloto. Some call it the highest hill in the world, next Teneriffe in the
Canaries, Lat. 81. b.Cap. 26. in his Treatise ofmagneticke bodies., c Lege -
lib. 1. cap. 23. et 24. de magnetica philosophic, et lib. 3. cap. 4. d 1612.
eM. Brigs, his Map, and Northwest Fox. f Lib. 2. ca. 64. de nob. civitat.
Quinsay, et cap. 10. de Camhaln. elaib. 4. exped. ad Sinas, ca. 3. et lib. 5.
Mem. 3-J Digression of Ayre.
367
tary ; a Presbyter John be in Asia or Africk ; M. Polus Vene-
tus puts him in Asia; bthe most received opinion is, that be is
emperour of the Abissines, -which of old was Ethiopia, cow
Nubia, under the Equator in Africk. Whether c Guinea be
an iland or part of the continent, or that hungry d Spaniards
discovery of Terra Australis Incognita, or Magellanica, be as
true as that of Mercurius Britannicus, or his of Utopia, or his
of Lucinia. And yet in likelihood it may be so; for, without
all question, it being extended from the tropick of Capricorn to
the circle Antarctick, and lying as it doth in the temperate
Zone, cannot chuse but yeeld in time some flourishing king-
domes to succeeding ages, as America did unto the Spaniards.
Shouten and Le Meir have done well in the discovery of the
streights of Magellan, in finding a more convenient passage to
Mare Pacificum : me thinks some of our modern Argon a.ute.s
should prosequutethe rest. As I go by Madagascar, I wouldsee
that great bird eRucke, that can carry a man and horse or an
elephant, with that Arabian Phoenix described by fAndricomius ;
see the pellicanes of Egypt, those Scythian gryphes in Asia :
and afterwards in Africk examine the fountains of Nilus, whe¬
ther Herodotus, s Seneca, Plin. lib. 5. cap. 9. Strabo, lib. 5.
give a true cause of his annuatl flowing, h Pagaphetta discourse
rightly of it, or of Niger and Senega : examine Cardan, tSca-
ligers reasons, and the rest. Is it from those Etesian winds,
or melting of snow in the mountains under the YEquator, (for
Jordan yearly, overflows when the snow melts in mount Liba-
nus) or from those great dropping perpetual! showres, which
are so frequent to the inhabitants within the tropicks, when
the sun is vertical!, and cause such vast inundations in Senega,
Maragnan, Orenoque, and the rest of those great rivers in
Zona Torrida, which have commonly the same passions at set
times ; and by good husbandry and policy, hereafter no doubt
may come to be as populous, as well tilled,; as fruitfull as
-Egypt it self, or Cauehin china ? I would observe all those
motions of the sea, and from what cause they proceed ; from
the moon (as the vulgar hold) or earths motion, which Gali-
leus, in the fourth dialogue of his systeme of the world, so
eagerly proves, and firmly demonstrates ; or winds, as ksome
will. Why in that quiet ocean of Zur, in mari pacifico, it is
a M. Polus, in Asia, Presb. Joh. meminit. lib. 2. cap. 30. b Alluaresius et alii.
c Lati 10. gr. Aust. d Ferdinando de Quir. anno 1612. e Alarum penn®
continent in longitudine 12 passus : elepbantem in sublime tollere potest. Polus, L 3.
c. 40. f Lib. 2. Descript terra sanctae. g^atur. qusest lib. 4. cap. 2.
h'Lib. de regi Congo. > Exercit. 47. fe See M. Carpenters Geography, lib. 2^
cap. 6. et Bern. Telesius, lib. de mari.
$68
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. See. 2.
scarce perceived, in our British seas most violent, in the Medi¬
terranean and Red Sea so violent and irregular, and diverse ?
Why the current in that Atlantick ocean should still be in some
places from, in some again towards the north, and why they come
sooner than go : and so from Moabar to Madagascar in that
Indian ocean, the merchants come in three weeks, as aScaliger
discusseth, they return scarce in three moneths, with the same
or like windes: the continuall current is from east to west.
Whether Mount Athos, Pelion, Olympus, Ossa, Caucasus, At¬
las, be so high as Pliny, Solinus, Mela relate, above clouds,
meteors, ubi nec aarce nec venti spirant , (insomuch that they
that ascend dy suddenly very often, the aire is so subtile)
1250 paces high, according to that measure of Dicsearchus,
or 78 miles perpendicularly high, as Jacobus Mazonius, sec. 3.
et 4. expounding that place of Aristotle about Mount Cau¬
casus; and as bBlancanus the Jesuite contends out of Clavius
and Nonius demonstrations de Crepusculis : or rather 32 sta¬
diums, as the most received opinion is; or 4 miles, which the
height of no mountain doth perpendicularly exceed, and isequal
to the greatest depths of the sea,whieh is, as S caliger holds, 1 580
paces (fixer. 38), others 100 paces. I would see those inner
parts of America, whether there be any suchgreatcity of Man-
noa or Eldorado in that golden empire, where the high ways
are as much beaten (one reports) as between Madrit and Vale-
dolit in Spain ; or any such Amazones as he relates, or giganti-
cal Patagones in Chica; with that miraculous mountain, cYbou-
yapab in the northern Brasile, cuj us j ugurn sternitur in amoenis-
simam planitiem, Sfc. or that of Pariacacca, so high elevated in
Peru. dThe pike of Teneriffhow high is it? 79 miles, or 52,
as Patricius holds, or 9 as Snellius demonstrates in his Era¬
tosthenes: see that strang e Cirknickzerksey lake in Carnioia,
whose waters gush so fast out of the ground, that they will over¬
take aswift horseman, and by and by, with as incredible celerity,
are supped up : which Lazius and Warnerus make an argument
of the Argonautes sayling under ground. And that vast den
or hole called f Esmellen in Muscovia, quce visitur horren -
do hiatUy $*c. which, if any thing casually fall in, makes,
such a roaring noise, that no thunder, or ordnance, or war¬
like engine, can make the like. Such another is Gilbers
a Exercit. 52." de mans mota canssse investigandae : prima reciprocationis, secnnda
varietatis, tertia celeritatis, quarta cessationis, qninta privationis, sexta contrarietatis.
bLib. de explications locorom Mathem. Aristot. c Laet. lib. 17. cap. 18. descrip,
occid. lnd. d Patritius saith 52 miles in heighth. eLage alii vocant. Geor.
Wemerns. Aqose tanta celeritate erumpnnt et absorbentur, ut expedito equiti aditum
istercludant, " fBoissardHs, de Magig, cap. de Pilapiis.
369
Mem. 3.] Digression of Ayre.
cave in Lapland, with many the like. I would examine the
Caspian sea, and see where and how it exonerates it self, after
it hath taken in Volga, Iaxares, Oxus, and those great rivers;
at the mouth of Oby, or where? What vent the Mexican lake
hath, the Titician in Peru, or that circular pool in the vale
of Terapeia, (of which Acosta, l. 3. c. 16) hot in a cold coun¬
try, the spring of which boils up in the middle twenty foot
square, and hath no vent but exhalation : and that of Mare
mortuum in Palestina, of Thrasumene, at Perusium in Italy :
the Mediterranean it self: for, from the ocean, at the straights
of Gibraltar, there is aperpetuall current into the Levant, and
so likewise by the Thracian Bosphorus out of the Euxine or
Blacksea, besides all thosegreat rivers of Nilus, Padus,Rhoda-
nus, &c. how is this water consumed? by the sun, or other¬
wise ? i would find out, with Trajan, the fountains of Danu-
bius, of Ganges, Oxus, see those Egyptian pyramids, Trajans
bridge, Grotta de Sibylla, Lucullus fish-ponds, the temple of
Nidrose, &c. and, if I could, observe what becomes of swal-
lowes, storkes, cranes, cuckowes, nightingales, redstarts, and
many other kinde of singing birds, water-fowls, hawks, &c.
some of them are onely seen in summer, some in winter ;
some are observed in the asnow, and at no other times : each
have their seasons. In winter, not a bird is in Muscovie to be
found; but, at the spring, in an instant the woods and
hedges are full of them, saith b Herbastein : how comes it to
pass? do they sleep in winter, like Gesners Alpine mice? or
do they lye hid (as c 01aus affirmes) in the hottome of lakes
and rivers , spiritual continentes ?■ often so found hy fisher¬
men in Poland and Scandia, two together, mouth to mouth ,
wing to wing ; and, when the spring comes, they revive
again , or if they he brought into a stove, or to the fire side.
Or do they follow the sun, as Peter Martyr (legal. Baby -
lonica, l , 2) manifestly convicts, out of his own knowledge ?
for, when he was ambassadour in Egypt, he saw swallowes,
Spanish kites, d and many other such European birds, in De¬
cember and January very familiarly flying, und in great abun¬
dance, about Alexandria, ubi fioridce tunc arboresac viridaria ,
or lye they hid in caves, rocks, and hollow trees, as most think,
in deep tin-mines or sea-cliffs, e as Mr Carew gives out? I con-
a In catnpis Lovicen. solum visuntur in nive ; et ubinam vere, aestate, autumno se
occultant ? Hermes, Polit. 1. 1 . Jnl. Beilins. b Statim ineunte vere sylvse strepunt
eorum cantilenis. Muscovit. comment c Immergunt se flnminibus, lucubusque
per hyemern totam, &c, ^Cffiterasqae volacres Pontnm hyemeadveniente e
ao5tris regionibus Europsis traasvolantes. " « Survay of Gomwall.
370
Cure of Melancholy . [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
elude of them all, for my part, aMunster doth of cranes and
storks : whence they come, whither they goe, incompertum ad-
hue, as yet we know not. We see them here, some in summer,
some in winter : their coming and going is sure in the night :
in the plains of Asia (saith he) the storkes meet on such a set
day, he that comes last is torn in pieces ; and so they get them
gon. Many strange places, Isthmi, Euripi, Chersonnesi,
creekes, 'havens, promontories, straights, lakes, bathes, rocks,
mountaines, places, and fields, where cities have bin ruined or
swallowed, battels fought, creatures, sea-monsters, remora,
&c. minerals, vegetals. Zoophites were fit to be considered in
such an expedition, and, amongst the rest, that of bHerbastein
his Tartar lambe, c Hector Boethius goos-bearing tree in the
Orchardes, to which Cardan (lib. 7. cap. 36. de rerum va-
rietat.) subscribes :: d Vertomannus wonderfull palme, that
e fly in Hispaniola, that shines like a torch in the night,
that one may well see to write ; those sphericall stones in
Cuba which nature hath so made, and those like birds, beasts,
, fishes, crowns, swords, saws, pots, &c. usually found in the
metall-mines in Saxony about Mansfield, and in Poland neer
Nokow and Pallukie, as ^Munster and others relate. Many,
rare creatures and novelties each part of the world affords :
amongst the rest I would know for a certain whether there be
any such men, as Leo Suavius in his comment on Paracelsus
de sanit. tuend. and g Gaguinus records in his description of
Muscovie, that, in Lucomoria, a province in Russia , lye fast
asleep as dead all winter, from the 27 November, likefrogges
and swallowes, benumbed with cold, and about the 24 of
April in the spring they revive again, and goe about their
business. I would examine that demonstration of Alexander
Picolomineus, whether the earths superficies be bigger than
the seas ; or that of Archimedes be true, the superficies of all
water is even. Search the depth and see that variety of
sea-monsters and fishes, mare-maids, sea-men, horses.
, - aPorro ciconise quonam e loco veniant, quo se conferant, incompertum adhuc ;
agmen venientium, descendentium, ut grunm, venisse cernimus, noctumis opinor tem-
poribus. In patentibus Asi* campis certo die congregant se, earn quae novissime
advenit lacerant, inde avolant. Cosmog. 1. 4. c. 126, b Comment. Muscov.
c Hist. Scot.l. 1. d Vertomannus, 1. 5. c. 16. mentioneth a tree that bears
fruits to eat, wood to burn, bark to make ropes, wine and water to drink, oyl and sugar,
and leaves as tiles to cover houses, flowers for clothes, &c. e Animal insec-
tum Cnsino, nt quis legere vel scribere .possit sine alterius ope Inminis. ' f Cos¬
mog. lib. 1 . cap. 435. et lib. 3. cap. 1. Habent ollas a natnra formatas, e terra extraetas,
similes illis a figulis factis, coronas, pisces, aves_, et omnes animantium. species,
g Ut solent hirundines et ran® pr® frigoris magnitudine mori, et postea, redeunte vere,
24 Aprflis reviviscere.
Mem. 3.] Digression of Ayr e. 371
&c. which it affords. Or whether that be true which Jor-
danus Brunus scoffes at, that, if God did not detain it, the
sea would overflow the earth by reason of his higher site, and
which Josephus Biancanus the Jesuite, in his interpretation on
those mathematicall places of Aristotle, foolishly feares, and in
a just tract proves by many circumstances, that in time the
sea will waste away the land, and all the globe of the earth
shall be covered with waters ; risurn teneatis, amici ? what the
sea takes away in one place it addes in another. Mee thinks
he might rather suspect the sea should in time be filled
by land, trees grow up, carcasses, &c. that all-devouring fire,
omnia devorans et consumens, will sooner cover and dry up
the vast ocean with sands and ashes. I would examine the
true seat of that terrestriall ^Paradise, and where Ophir was,
whence Solomon did fetch his gold ; from Peruana, which
some suppose, or that Aurea Chersonnesus, as Dominicus
Niger, Arias, Montanus, Goropius, and others, will. I would
censure all Plinies, Solinus, Strabos, Sr John Man devils,
Olaus Magnus, Marcus Polus lyes, correct those errors in
navigation, reforme cosmographicall chartes, and rectifie lon¬
gitudes, if it were possible; not by the compass, assome dream,
with Mark Ridley in his treatiseof magneticall bodies, cap. 43 :
for, as Cabeus {magnet, philos. lib. 3. cap. 4.) fully resolves,
there is no hope thence : yet I would observe some better
meanes to find them out.
- I would have a convenient place to go down with Orpheus,
Ulysses, Hercules, b Lucians Menippus, at St. Patricks purga¬
tory, at Trophonius den, Hecla in Island, iEtna in Sicily, to
descend and see what is done in the bowels of the earth; do
stones and metalls grow there still ? how come firre trees to
be c digged out from tops of hills, as in our mosses and
marishes all over Europe ? How come they to dig up fish
bones, shells, beams, iron- works, many fath omes under ground,
and anchors in mountains, far remote from all seas ? d Anno
1460, at Berna in Switzerland, 50 fathom deep, a ship was
dig’d out of a mountain, where they got metall ore, in which
were 48 carcasses of men, with other merchandise. That
such things are ordinarily found in tops of hils, Aristotle
insinuates in his meteors, e Pomponius Mela in his first book,
e. de Numidid ; and familiarly in the Alpes, saith f Biancanus
the Jesuite, the like to be seen. Came this from earth-quakes,
or from Noahs floud, as Christians suppose ? or is there a
aVid. Pererjum, in Gen. Cor. a Lapide, et alios. b In Necyomantia,
Tom. 2. c Fracastorius, lib. de simp. Georgius Merala, lib. de mem. Julius
Billius, &c. a Simlerus, Ortelius. Brachiis centum sub terra reperta est, in
qua quadragmta octo cadavera inerant, anchor®, ,&c. e Pisces et conch® in
montibus reperiuntar. f Lib. de locis Mathemat. Aristot.
372 Cure of Melancholy . [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
vicissitudes of sea and land ? as Anaximenes held of old, the
mountains of Thessaly would become seas, and sfeas again
mountains. The whole world, belike, should benewmoulded,
when it seemed good to those all-commanding powers, and
turned inside out, as we do hay-cocks in harvest, fop to bot¬
tom, or bottom to top ; or, as we turn apples to the fire, move
the world upon his center; that which is under the Poles
now, should be translated to the .Equinoctial!, and that which
is under the torrid zone, to the circle Arcfique and Antarc-
tique another while, and so be reciprocally warmed by the
sun; or, if the worlds be infinite, and every fixed star a sun,
with his compassing planets (asBrunus and Campanella con¬
clude), cast three or four worlds into one; or else of one old
world make three or four new, as it shall seem to them best.
To proceed, if the earth be 21500 miles in a compass, its dia¬
meter is 7000 from us to our antipodes ; and what shall he
comprehended in all that space ? What is the center of the
earth ? is it pure element only, as Aristotle decrees, inha¬
bited (as b Paracelsus thinks) with creatures, whose chaos is
the earth ; or with fairies, as the woods and waters (according:
to him) are with nymphes* or as the aire with spirits f Diony-
siodorus, a mathematician in c Pliny, that sent a letter ad
superos after he was dead, from the center of the earth, to sig-
nifie what distance the same center was from the superficies of
the same, viz. 42000 stadiums, might have done well to have
satisfied all these doubts. Or is it the place of hell, as Virgil
in his iEneides, Plato, Lucian, Dante, and others, poetically'
describe it, and as many of our divines think? In good earnest,
Anthony Eusca, one off the society of that Ambrosian college
in Milian, in his great volume de Inferno, lib. 1. cap. 47, is
stiffe in his tenent ; 5tis a corporeal! fire low, cap. 5. I- 2. as
he there disputes. Whatsoever philosophers write, ( saith
d Surius) there be certain mouthes of hell, and place appointed
for the punishment of mens souls, as at Hecla in Island,
where the ghosts of dead men are familiarly seen, and some--
times talk with the living. God would have such visible
places, that mortal men might be certoAnly inf ormed, that
there be such punishments after death, and learn hence to
fear God. Kranzius (Dan. hist. lib. 2. cap. 24) subscribes
to this opinion of Surius ; so doth Colerus, cap. 12. lib. de
immortal, animce (out of the authority, belike, of $‘. Gregory,
a Or plain, as Patricius holds, which Austin, Lactantius, and some others, hold of
old as round as a trencher. b Li* de Zilphis et Pygmaeis. They penetrate me earth;
as we do the aire. c Lib. 2. c. 112. d Commentar. ad annum 1537.
Quidquid dicunt philosophi, quaedam sunt Tartar! ostia,.et loca peniendis auimisdesti-
nata, ut Hecla mons. Sic. ubi mortuorum spiritus visnatur, &c. voluit Dens exstare talia
loca, nt discant mortales.
Mem. 3.] Digression of Ayre. 373
Durand, and the rest of the schoolmen, who derive as much
from iEtna in Sicily, Lipara, Hiera, and those sulphureous
Vulcanian islands) making Terradel Fuego, and those frequent
vul canes in America, of which Acosta, lib. 3. cap . 24. that
fearfull mount Hecklebirg in Norway, an especiall argument
to prove it, a where lamentable screeches and howling s are con¬
tinually heard , which strike terrour to the auditors; fiery
chariots are commonly seen to bring in the souls of men in the
likeness of crows, and, divels ordinarily goe in and out. Such
another proofe is that place neer the pyramides in Egypt, by
Cairo, as well to confirm this as the resurrection, mentioned by
bKormannus, mirac. mort. lib. cap, 38. Camerarius, oper.
sue. cap. 37. Bredenbachius, pereg. ter. sa.net. and some
others, where once a yeere dead bodies arise about March ,
and walk, and after a while hide themselves again : thousands
of people come yearly to see them. But these and suchlike tes¬
timonies others reject, as fables, illusions of spirits ; and they
will have no such locall known place, more than Styx or Phle-
geton, Plutos court, or that poetical! infernus, where Ho¬
mers soul was seen hanging on a tree, &c. to which they fer¬
ried over in Charons boat, or went down at Hermione in
Greece, compendiaria ad inferos via, which is the shortest cut,
quia nullum a mortuis nauluin eo loci exposcunt , (saith c Ger-
belius) and besides there were no fees to be paid. Well then,
is it hell, or purgatory, as. Bellarmine ; Limbus patrum, as
Gallicius will, and as Rusca will (for they have made maps of
it), d or Ignatius parler ? Virgil, sometimes bishop of Saltburg (as
Aventinus, anno 745, relates) by Bonifacius bishop of Mentz
was therefore called in question, because he held antipodes,
(which they made a doubt whether Christ died for), and so by
that means took away the seat of hell, or so contracted it, that it
could bear no proportion to heaven, and contradicted that opi¬
nion of Austin, Basil, Lactantius, that held the earth round as
a trencher (whom Acosta and common experience more
largely confute), but not as a ball ; and Jerusalem, where
Christ died, the middle of it; or Delos, as the fabulous
Greeks fained ; because, when Jupiter let two eagles loose, to
fly from the worlds ends east and West, they met at Delos.
But the scruple of Bonifacius is now quite taken away by our
latter divines: Franciscus Ribera (in cap. 14. Apocalyps.')
will have hell a materiall and locall fire in the center of the
earth, 200 Italian miles in diameter, as he defines it out of
those words, Exivit sanguis de terra* . per stadia mille
*Ubi miserabiles ejulantinm voces audiuntnr, quse auditoribus horrorem incutimit
hand vulgarem, &c. b Ex sepnlcris apparent mense Martio, et rarsns sub terrain
» abacondunt, &c. « Deseript Grsec, lib. 6. de Pelop. / Conclave Ignatii.
374
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
sexcenta, Sec. ButLessius (lib. 13. de moribus divinis, cap:2i)
will have this locall hell far less, one Dutch mile in dia¬
meter, all filled with fire and brimstone [because, as he there
demonstrates, that space, cubically multiplyed, will make a
sphere able to hold eight hundred thousand millionsof damned
bodies (allowing’ each body six foot square); which will
abundantly suffice, cum cerium sit, inquit, fdeta suhductione,
nonfuturos centres mills milliones damnandorum. But, if it
be no material! fire (as Sco-Thomas, Bonaventure, Soneinas,
Vossius, and others argue) it may be there or elsewhere, as
Keekerman disputes. System. Theol. for sure somewhere it
is: cerium est alicubi, etsi definitus circulus non assignetur.
I will end the controversie in aAustins words, Setter doubt of
things concealed , than to contend about uncertainties : where
Abrahams bosome is , and hell fire, bvix a, mansuetis, aeon-
tentiosis nunquam, invenitur ; scarce the meek, the conten¬
tious shall never finde'. If it be solid earth, ’tis the fountain of
metals^ waters, which by his innate temper turns aire into
water, which springs up in severall chinks, to moisten the
earths superficies , and that in a tenfold proportion (as Aristotle
holds); or else these fountains come directly from the sea, by
c secret passages, and sO made fresh again, by running through
the bowels of the earth; and are either thick, thin, hot, cold,
as the matter Or minerals are by which they pass ; or, as Peter
Martyr (Ocean. Decad. lib. 9) and some others hold, from
d abundance of rain that fals, or from that ambient heat and-
cold, which alters that inward heat, and so per consequens the
generation of waters. Or else it may be full of winde, or sul¬
phureous innate fire, as our meteorologists enform us, which,
sometimes breaking out, causeth those horrible earth-quakes,
which are so frequent in these dayes in Japan, China, and
oftentimes swallow up whole cities. Let Lucians Menippus
consult with or aske of Tiresias, if you will not beleeve philo¬
sophers : he shall cleare all your doubts when he makes a
second voiage.
In the mean time let us consider of that which is sub dio,
and finde out -a true cause, if it be possible, of such accidents,
meteors, alterations, as happen above the ground. Whence
proceed that variety of manners, and a distinct character (as
itwere) to severall nations? Some are wise, subtil, witty; others
dull, sad, and heavy; some big, some little, as Tully de Fato
a Melius dubitare de occnltis, qnarn litigare de incertis, ubi flamrea infemi, &c.
b5eeDr. Raynolds praelect. 55. in Apoc. « As they come from the sea, so they
return to the sea again by secret passages, as in all likelihood the Caspian sea vents
tself into the Euxine or Ocean. dSeneca, qusest. lib. cap. 3,-4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
0, 11, 12. de caussis aquarum perpetuis.
Mem. 8.1
375
Digression of Ayre.
Plato in Timaso, V.egetius, and Bodine proves at large, me¬
thod. cap. 5; some soft, and some hardy, barbarous, civil!,
black, dun, white : is it from the aire, from the soyle, influ¬
ence of stars, or some other secret cause? Why doth Africa
breed so many venemous beasts, Ireland none? Athens owles,
Creet none? aWky hath Daulis and Thebes so swallowes
(so Pausanias informeth us) as well as the rest of Greece ?
b Ithaca no hares, Pontus asses, Scythia swine ? whence come
this variety of complections, colours, plants, birds, beasts, 'me¬
tals, peculiar almost to every place? „ Why so many thousand
strange birds and beasts proper to America alone, as Acosta de¬
mands, lib A. cap. 36 ? were they created in the six dayes, or
ever in Noahs Arke ? if there, why are they not dispersedand
found in other countries? It is a thing (saith he) hath long
held me insuspence; no Greek, Latine, Hebrew, ever heard of
them before, and yet as different from our European animals,
as an egg and a chesnut : and, which is more, kine, horses,
sheep, &c. till the Spaniards brought them, were never heard
of in those parts. How comes it to pass, that, in the same site,
in one latitude, to such as are per iced, there should be such dif¬
ference of soyle, complexion* colour, metal?, aire^&c. The Spa¬
niards are white, and so are Italians, when as the inhabitants
about d Caput bonce Spei&te Macke mores, and yet both alike
distant from the sequator : nay, they that dwell in the same
parallel line with these Negros, as about the straights of Ma¬
gellan, are white coloured, and yet some in Presbyter Johns
country in ^Ethiopia are dun ; they in Zeilan and Malabar,
parallel with them, again black: Manamotapa in Africk, and
St, Thomas isle are extreme hot, both under the linej cole black
their inhabitants, whereas in Peru they are quite opposite in
colour, very temperate* or rather cold; and yet both alike ele¬
vated. Mosco,in53 degrees of latitude, extreme cold, as those
northern countries usually are, having one perpetual hard frost
all winter long: and in 52 deg. lat. sometimes hard frost and
snow all summer, as in Buttons bay, &c. or by fits ; and yet
e England neere the same latitude, and Ireland, very moist,
* In iis'nec pullos hirandines excludunt, neqne, &c. f> Th. Ravenna s, lib. de
vit. hom. prorog- ca. ult. c At Quito in Pern, plus auri qnam terras foditnr in
aurifodinis. dAd Caput Bona Spei incolas sunt nigerrimi. Si sol caussa, cur
non Hispani et Itali aeque nigri, in eadem latitudine, seque distantes ab iEquatore, hi
ad Austrnm, illi ad Boream? qui sub Presbytero Johan, habitant, subfosci sunt, in
Zeilan et Malabar nigri, seque distantes ab iEquatore, eodemque coeli parallelo : sed
hoc magis mirari quis possit, in tota America nnsquam nigros inveniri, praeter pancos
in loco Quareno Hlis dicto : hujus coloris caussa efficiens, [coelive an terras qualitas,
an soli proprietas, aut ipsorum hominum innata ratio, aut omnia? Ortelins, in Africa,
Tbeat. e Regio quocnnque anni tempore temperatissima. Ortel. Multas Gal¬
lic et Itali® regiones, molli tepore, et benigna qnadam temperie, prorsns antecellit,
Jovins,
VOL. I.
. K K
376
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
warme, and more temperate in winter than Spain, Italy, or
France. Is it the sea that causeth this difference, and the aire
that comes from it ? Why then is a Ister so cold neere the
Euxine, Pontus, Bithynia, and all Thrace ? frigidas regiones
Maginus calls them ; and yet their latitude is but 42, which
shouldbehot. bQuevira, orNova Albionin America, bordering
on the sea, was so cold in July, that our c Englishmen could
hardly endure it. At Noremberga, in 45 lat. all the sea is
frozen ice, and yet in a more southern latitude than ours.
New England, and the island of Cambriall Colchos, which that
noble gentleman Mr. Vaughan, or Orpheus Junior, describes in
his Golden Fleece, is in the same latitude with little Britaine in
France: and yet their winter begins not till January, their
spring till May ; which search he accounts worthy of an astro¬
loger : is this from the easterly winds, or melting of ice and
snow dissolved within the circle arctick; or thatthe aire, being
thick, is longer before it be warm by the sun beams, and, once
heated, like an oven, will keep it self from cold ? Our climes
breed lice : ^Hungary and Ireland male audiunt in this kinde ;
eome to the Azores,; by a secret Vertue of that aire they are in-
stantly consumed, and all our European vermine almost, saitk
Ortelius. Egypt is watred with Mlus not far from the sea ; and
yet there it seldom or never rains: Rhodes, an Hand of the
same nature, yeelds not a cloud: and yet our Hand’s ever
dropping and inclining to rain. The Atlantick ocean is still
subject to storms, but in Del Zur, or Mari pacifco, seldome or
never any. Is it from topick stars, apertio potarum, in the
dodecateraories or constellations, the moons mansions: such
aspects of planets, such winds, or dissolving ayre,or thick ayre,
which causeth this and the like differences of heat and cold?
Bodin relates of a Portugal embassadour, that coming from
e Lisbon to IDantzick in Spruce, found greater heat there
than at any time at home. Don Garcia de Sylva, legat to
Philip 3 king of Spain, residing at Spahan in Persia, 1619, in
his letter to the marquess of Bedmar, makes mention of greater
cold in Spahan, whose lat. is 31 gr. than ever he felt in Spain,
or any partof Europe. The torrid zone was by our predeces¬
sors held to be inhabitable, but by our modern travelers found
to be most temperate, bedewed with frequent rains, and moist¬
ening showers^ the brise and cooling- blasts in some parts, as
®" Acosta describes, most pleasant andfertile. Arica in Chili is
by report one of the sweetest places that ever the sun shined on,
Olympus terras, an heaven on earth : how incomparably do
a Lat. 45 JDanubii. b Qnevira, lat. 40. ' cln Sir Fra. Drakes voiage
d'Lansius, orat. contra Hungaros. e Lisbon, lat 38. 'Dantzick, lat. 54.
sDe nat novi orb is, lib. 1. cap. 9. Suavissimus omnium locos, &c.
377
Mem. 3.] Digression of Ayre.
some extoll Mexico in Nova Hispania, Peru, Brasile, &c. ? in
some again hard, dry, sandy, barren, a very desert, and still in
the same latitude. Many times we finde great diversity of aire
in the same acountry, by reason of the site to seas, hills, or
dales, want of water, nature of soil, and the like; as, in Spain,
Arragon is aspera et sicca, harsh and evil inhabited; Estrama-
dura is dry, sandy, barren most part, extreme hot by reason of
his plains, Andaluzia another paradise, Valence a mostpleasant
aire, and continually green ; so is it about bGranado, on the
one side fertile plains, on the other, continual] snow to be seen
all summer long on the hill tops. That their houses in the
Alpes are three quarters of the yeer covered with snow, who
knows not? That TenarifFa is so cold at the top, extreme hot at
the bottome : Mons Atlas in Africk, Libahus in Palasstina, with
many such, tantos inter ardores fidos nimbus, c Tacitus calls
them, and Radzivilius (epist. 2. fol. 27) yeelds it to be far
hotter there than in any part of Italy : ’tis true; but they are
highly elevated, near the middle region, and therefore cold,
ob paucam solarium, radiorum refr actionem,, as Serrarius an-
swers, com. in 3. cap. Josua, qucest. 5. Abulensis, qucest. .37.
In the heat of -summer, in. the kings palace in Escuriall, the
aire is most temperate, by reason of a cold blast which comes
from the snowie mountains of Sierra de Oadarama hard by,
when as in Toledo it is very hot : so in all other countries.
The causes of these alterations are commonly by reason of their
neerness (I say) to. the middle region: butthis diversity of aire,
in places equally site, elevated, and distantfrom the pole, can
hardly be satisfied with that diversity of plants, birds, beasts,
which is so familiar with us. With Indians, e very where, the
sun is equally distant, the same verticall stars, the same irra¬
diations of planets, aspects alike, the same neerness ofseas,the
same superficies, the same soyl, Or not much different. Under
the ^Equator it self, amongst the Sien-as, Andes, Lanes, as
Herrera, Laet, and d Acosta contend, there is tammirabilis et
inopinata varietas, such variety of w;eather, ui merito exer-
c eat ingenia, that no philosophy can yet finde out the true
causeof it. When I considerhow temperate it is in one place,
saith e Acosta, within the tropiek of Capricorn, as about La-
Plate, and yet hard by at Potosa, in that same altitude, moun¬
tainous alike, extreme cold ; extreme hot in Brasile, &c. Me
ego , saith Acosta, philosophiam Aristotelis meteorologicam
vehementer irrisi, cum, Sj-c. when the sun comes neerest to
aThe same variety of weather Lod. Goicciardine observes betwixt Liege and Aix
aot far distant. Descript. Belg. t>. Magin. Qaadas. c Hist lib. 5. dLib.
U. cap. 7. eLib. 2. cap. 9. Car Potosa et Plata, urbes in tam tenui intervallo,
otraqae montosa, &c.
K K
S78
Cure of Melancholy.
[Part. 2. Sec. 2.
them, they have great tempests, storms, thunder and lightning,
great store of rain, snow, and the foulest weather ; when the
sun is vertical], their rivers over-flow, the morning fair and
hot, noon day cold and moist: all which is opposite to us.
How comes it to pass ? Sealiger (poetices l. 3. c. 16) discourseth
thus of this subject. How comes, or wherefore is this teme-
raria siderum dispositio, this rash placing of stars, or, as Epi¬
curus will, foriuita , or accidental! ? Why are some big, some
little % why are they so confusedly, unequally site in the hea¬
vens, and set so much out of order? In all other things, Nature
is equal!, proportionable, and constant; there hejustce dimen-
stones, et prudens partium dispositio , as in the fab rick of man,
his eyes, ears, nose, face, members are correspondent; cur non
idem ccelo, opere omnium pulcherrimp ? Why are the heavens
so irregular, neque paribus molibus, neque paribus intervallis?
whence is this difference ? Diversos (he concludes) efficere lo-
corum Genios, to make diversity of countries, soils, maners,
customs, characters and constitutions among us, ut quantum
vicinia ad charitatem addat , sidera distrdhant ad perniciem;
and so by this means fuvio vel monte distincti sunt dissimiles,
the same places almost shall be distinguished in maners. But
this reason is weak, and most unsufficienf. The fixed stars are
removed, since Ptolemies time, 26 gr. from the first of Aries;
and if the earth be immovable, as their site varies, so should
countries vary, and divers alterations wouldfollow. But this
we perceive not ; as, in Tullies time, with us in Britain, coelum
visufosdum, et in, quo facile genercmtur nuhes, fyc. ’tis so still.
Wherefore Bodine ( Theat . not. lib. 2) and some others will
have all these alterations and effects immediately to proceed
from those genii, spirits, angels, which rule and domineer in
x several! places ; they cause storms, thunder; lightning, earth¬
quakes, ruins, tempests, great winds, floods, &c. The philo¬
sophers of Conimbra will refer this diversity to the influence
of tha i empyrean heaven : for some say the excentricity of the
sun is come neerer to the earth than in Ptolemies time ; the
vertue therefore of all the vegetals is decayed ; amen grow
less, &c. There are that observe new motions of the heavens,
new stars, palantia sidera , comets, clouds, (call them what
you will) like those Medicean, Burbonian, Austrian planets
lately detected, which do not decay, but come and go, rise
higher and lower, hide and shew themselves amongst the fixed
stars, amongst the planets, above and beneath the moon, at
set times, now neerer, now farther off, together, asunder ; as
he that plaies upon a sagbut, by pulling it up and down, alters
a Terra tnalos homines none educat. atque pusillos.
Mem. 3.]
Digression of Ayre .
379
tis tones and tunes, do they their stations and places, though
to us undiscerncd; and from those motions proceed (as they
conceive) divers alterations. Clavius conjectures otherwise:
but they be but conjectures. About Damascus in Coele-Syria -
is a a paradise, by reason of the plenty of waters ; in promptk
caussa est; and the desarts of Arabia barren, because of rockes,
rolling seas of sands, and dry mountaines; quod inaquosa,
(saith Adricomius) monies habens asperos, saxosos, prcecipites,
Jiorroriset mortis speciemprce se ferentes, uninhabitable there¬
fore of men, birds, beasts, void of all greene trees, plants and
fruits, a vast rocky horrid wilderness, which by no art can be
manured ; ’tis evident. Bohemia is cold, for that it lyes all
along to the north. But why should it be so hot in -Egypt, or
there never rain ? Why should those bEtesian and north-east¬
ern winds blow continually and constantly so long together, in
some places, at set times, one way still, in the dog-dayes only ;
here perpetual drought, there dropping showres ; here foggy
mists, there a pleasantaire ; h ere cterrible thunder and lightning
at such set seasons, here frozen seas all the yeare, there open in
the same latitude, to the rest no such thing, nay quite opposite
is to be found? Sometimes (as in dPeru) on the one side of
the mountaines it is hot, on the other cold, here snow, there
winde, with infinite such. Fromundus, in his Meteors, will
excuse or salve all this by the suns motion : but when there is
such diversity to such aspericeci , or very neare site, how can
that position hold ?
Who can give a reason of this diversity of meteors? that it
should rain estones, frogs, mice, &e. rats, which they call
lemmer in Norway, and are manifestly observed (as f Munster
writes) by the inhabitants, to descend and, fall with some fe¬
culent showres, and, like so many locusts, consume all that is
green. Leo Afer speaks as much of locusts ; about Fez in Bar¬
bary there be infinite swarmesin their fields upon a sudden : so
at Arles in France, 1553, the like happened by the same mis¬
chief; all their grass and fruits were devoured; magnd incola-
rum admiratione et consternaiione (as Valleriola, obser. med.
lib. 1 . obser. 1 . relates) coelum subito obuinbrabant, fyc. he
concludes, 6 it could not be from naturall causes; they cannot
imagine whence they come, but fromheaven. Are these and
such creatures, corn, wood, stones, worms, wooll, blood, &c.
aNav. 1. l.c. 5. _ b Strabo. c As under the aequator in many parts,
showres here at such a time, windes aLsuch a time, the brise they call it. dFerd.
Cortesins, lib. IJJovus orbis inscript. eXiapidatnm est. Livie. fCosmog.
lib.’4. ca. 22. Hse tempestatibus decidnnt e nnbibus feculentis, depascunturque more
locustarnm omnia virentia. gHort Genial. An a terra sursum rapiuntur a solo,
iternmque'cum pluviis prsecipitantur ? &c.
380 Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec.*2.
lifted up into the middle region by the sun beams, as a Para¬
celsus the physician disputes, and thence let fall with showres,
or there ingendred ? b Cornelius Gemma is of that opinion, they
are there conceived by celestiall influences: others suppose
they are immediately from God, or prodigies raised by art and
illusions of spirits, which are princes of the ay re; to whom
Bodin (lib. 2. Theat. not .) subscribes. In fine, of meteors in
generall, Aristotles reasons are exploded by Bernardinus Tele¬
sios, by Paracelsus, his principles confuted, and other causes
assigned, sal, sulphur, mercury, in which his disciples are so
expert, thatthey can alter elements, and separate at their plea¬
sure, make perpetual! motions, not as Cardan, Tasneir, Pere-
grinus, by some magneticall vertue,but by mixture of elements;
mitate thunder, like Salmoneus; snow, hail, the seas, ebbing
and flowing, give life to creatures (as they say) without gene¬
ration, and whatnot? P. Nonius Saluciencis, and Kepler, take
upon them to demonstrate that no meteors, cloudes, fogges,
c vapours, arise higher than 50 or 80 miles, and all the rest to
be purer aire or element of fire : which d Cardan, e Tycho,
and f John Pena manifestly confute by refractions, and many
other arguments, there is no such element of fire at all. If, as
Tycho proves, the moon be distant from us 50 and 60 semi-
diameters of the earth : and as Peter Nonius will have it, the
aire be so angust, what proportion is there betwixt Jhe other
three elements and it? to what use serves it ? it is full of spi¬
rits which inhabit it, as the Paracelsians and Platonists hold,
the higher the more noble, sfull of birds, or a meer vacuum to
nopurpose? It is much controverted betwixt Tycho Brahe and
Christopher Rotman the liantsgrave of Hessias mathematician,
in their Astronomicall Epistles, whether it be the same dia-
phanum , cleerness, matter of aire and heavens, ortwo distinct
essences ? Christopher Kotman, John Pena, Jordanus Brunus,
with many other mathematicians, contend it is the same, and
one matter throughout, saving that the higher still, the purer
it is, and more subtile ; as they finde by experience in the top
of some hills in h America : if a man ascend, he faints instantly
for want of thicker ayre to refrigerate the heart. Acosta (1.3.
c. 9) calls this mountain Periacacain Peru : it makes men cast
and vomit, he saith, that climb it, as some other of those Andes
do in the desartsof Chilafor 500 miles together, and, for extre-
aTam ominosus proventas innaturales caussasreferri vix potest. b Cosmog,
c. 6. c Cardan saith vapours rise 288 miles from the earth, Eratosthenes 48
miles. 11 De subtil. 1. 2. e In progymnas. f Prsefat. ad Euclid.
Catop, S Manncodiat®, birds that live continually inthe ayre, and are never
seen on ground but de.ad. See Ulysses Aldrovand. Ornithol. Seal, exerc. cap. 229.
k Laet. descrip. Amer. _ ' . . M
Mem. 3.] Digression of Ayre. 38 1
mity of cold, to lose their fingers and toes. Tycho will have
two distinct matters of heaven and ayre ; but to say truth,
with some small qualification, they have one and the self same
opinion about the essence and matter of heavens ; that it is
not hard and impenetrable, as Peripateticks hold, transparent,
of a quinta essentia, &but that it is penetrable and soft as the
ayre it self is, and that the planets move in it, as birds in the
ayre, fishes in the sea. This they prove by motion of comets,
and otherwise (though Claremontius in his Antitycho stiffly
oppose) which are not generated, as Aristotle teacheth, in the
aeriall region, of an hot and dry exhalation, and so consumed;
but, as Anaxagoras and Democritus held of old, of a celestial
matter: and as b Tycho, cHelisseus Roeslin, Thaddeus Hag-
gesius, Pena, Rotman, Fracastorius, demonstrate by their pro¬
gress, parallaxes, refractions, motions of the planets, (which
enterfeire and cut one anothers orbs, now higher, and then
lower, as $, amongst the rest, which sometimes, as d Kepler
confirms by his own and Tychos accurate observations, comes
nearer the earth than the ©, and is again eftsoons aloft in Jupi-
ters orbs) and e other sufficient reasons, far above the moon :
exploding in the mean time that element of fire, those fictitious
first watry movers, those heavens I mean above the firma¬
ment, which Delrio, Lodovicus Imola, Patricius, and many
of the fathers, affirm; those monstrous orbes of eccentricks,
and eccentre epicycles deserentes ; which howsoever Ptolemy,
Alhaseri, Vitellio, Purbachius, Maginus, Clavius, and many
of their associates stiffly maintain to be reall orbes, excen-
trick, concentrick, circles aequant, &c. are absurd and ridicu¬
lous. For who is so mad to think, that there should be so
many circles, like subordinate wheels in a clock, all impenetra¬
ble and hard, as they fain, adde and substract at their pleasure ?
Maginus makes eleven heavens, subdivided into their orbes and
circles, and all too little to serve those particular appearances:
Fracastorius, 72 homocentricks : Tycho Brahe, Nicholas Ca¬
meras, Hselisasus Roeslin, have peculiar hypotheses of their own
inventions; and they be but inventions, as most of them ac¬
knowledge, as we admit of sequators, tropicks, colures, cir¬
cles, arctique and antarctique, for doctrines sake (though Ra-
a Epist. lib. I. p. 83. Exqnibus constat nec diversa aeris et setheris diaphana esse,
nee refractiones aliunde quam a crasso aere caussari. — Non dura ant impervia, sed
liquida, subtilis, motuique planetarnm facile cedens. bIn Progymn. lib. 2. ex-
emplis qninque. c In Theoria nova Met ccelestinm, 1578. d Epit Astron.
lib. 4. e Malta sane hinc consequnntor absnrda, et si nihil alind, tot comet® in
ee there animadversi, qui nullinsorbisdnctum comitantur, id ipsum snfficienter refellnnt.
Tycho, astr. epist. pag. 107. f In Theoricis planetarnm, three above the firma¬
ment, which all wise men reject.
382 Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
liras thinks them all unnecessary) they will have them supposed
onely for method and order. Tycho hath fained I know not
how many subdivisions of epicycles in epicycles, &c. to cal¬
culate and express the moons motion ; but when all is done,
as a supposition, and no otherwise; not (as he holds) hard,
impenetrable, subtile, transparent, &c. or making musick, as
Pythagoras maintained of old, and Robert Constantine of
late, but still quiet, liquid, open, &e.
If the heavens then be penetrable, as these men deliver, and
no lets, it were not amiss, in this aereall progress, to make
wings, and fly up; which that Turk, in Busbequius, made his
fellow-citizens in Constantinople beleeve he would perform,,
and some new-fangled wits, me thinks, should some time or
other finde out : or if thatmay not be, yet with aGaliiiesglass,
nr Icaromenippus wings in Lucian, command the, spheres
and heavens, and see what is done amongst them : whether
there be generation and corruption, as some think, by reason
of sethereall comets, that in Cassiopea 1572, that in Cygno
1600, that in Sagittarius 1604, and many like, which by no
means Jul, Caesar la Galla, that Italian philosopher, (in his
physicall disputation with Galileus, de phcenomenisinorbe
liirnoe , cap. 9) will admit : or that they were created ah. initio,
and shew themselves at set times; and, as aHeIisasus RoesTin
contends, have poles, axeltrees, circles of their own, and
regular motions. For non pereunt , sed minuuntur et dispa-
rent, bBlancanus holds: they come and go by fits, casting
their tailes still from the sun: some of them, as a burning glass
projects the sun beams from it; though not alwaies neither;
for sometimes a comet casts his faile from Venus, as Tycho ob¬
serves ; and, as cHelisa2US Rceslin of some others, from the
moon, with little stars about them, ad stuporem astronomo-
rum; cum multis aliis in ceelo miraculis, all which argue,
with those Medicean, Austrian, and Burbonian stars, that
the heaven of the planets is indistinct, pure and open, in
which the planets move certis legibus ac metis. Examine
likewise, an ccelum sit color alum ? Whether the stars be of
that bigness, distance, as astronomers relate, so many in
d number, 10S6, or 1725, as J. Bayerus ; or as some Rabbins,
29000 myriades; or, as Galilie discovers by his glasses, infi¬
nite, and that via lactea, a confused light of small stars,
like so many nailes in a door: or all in a row, like those
12000 isles of the^ Maldives, in the Indie ocean ? whether
the least visible star in the eighth sphere be 18 .rimes bigger
a Tbeor. nova, ccelest Meteor. b Lib. de fabrica mundi. cLib. de
Cometis. d An sit eras et nubecula in coelis ad Polum Antarcticum, quod ei
Corsalio refert Patritius.
Mem. 3.^ Digression of Ayre. 88cf
than the earth ; and, as Tycho calculates, 14000 semidiameters
distant from it? Whether they he thicker parts of the orbes, as
Aristole delivers; or so many-habitable worlds, asDemocritus?
whether they have light of their own, or from the sun, or
give light round, as Patritius dis course th % An ceque distent a
centro mwndi? Whether light be of their essence ; and that
light be a substance or an accident P whether they be hot by
themselves or by accident cause heat ? whether there be such
a precision of the aequinoxes, as Copernicus holds, or that the
eight sphere move ? An bene philosophentur R. Bacon , et
J. Dee, Aphorism, de multiplications specierum? Whether
there be any such images ascending with each degree of
the Zodiack in the east, as Aliacensis feignes ? An aqua super
coslum ? as Patritius and the schoolmen will, a crystalline
a watry heaven, which is b certainly to be understood of that in
the middle region ? for otherwise, if at Noahs floud the water
came from thence, it must be above an hundred yeeres falling
. down to us, as c some calculate. Besides, an terra sit ani-
mata ? which some so confidently beleeve, with Orpheus,
Hermes, Averroes, from which all other souls of men, beasts,
divels, plants, fishes, &c. are derived, and into which again,
after some revolutions, as Plato in his Timaeus, Plotinus in his
Enneades, more largely discusse, they return (See Chalcidius
and Bennius, Platos commentators) as all philosophical!
mntter,inmateriamprimam. Keplerus, Patritius, and some
other neotericks, have in part revived this opinion: and
that every star in heaven hath a. soul, angel, or intelligence
to animate or move it, &c. or to omit all smaller controversies,
as matters of less moment, and examine that main paradox,
of the earths motion, now so much in question : Ari¬
starchus Samius, Pythagoras maintained it of old, Democritus,
and many of their schollers. Didacus Astunica, Anthony Fas-
carinus a Carmelite, and some other commentators, will have
Job to insinuate as much, cap. 9. ver. 4. Qui commovet
terram de loco suo, fyc. and that this one place of Scripture
makes more for the earths motion,, than all the other prove
againstit: wbomPinedaconfutes,mostcontradiet. Howsoever,
it is revived since by Copernicus, not asatruth, but a suppo¬
sition, as he confesseth himself in the Preface to Pope Nicholas,
but now maintained in good earnest by d Calcagninus, Tele-
sius, Kepler, Butman, Gilbert, Digges, Gaiileus, Campa-
nella, and especially by. e Lansbergius, naturce rationi , $■
a Gilbertus Origanus. b See this discussed in Sir Walter Raleighs history,
in Zanch. ad Casman. c Vid. Fromundum, de Meteoris, lib. 5. artic. 5. et
Lansbergium. d Peculiari libello. e Comment, in motum terrse Middle-
bergi, 1630. 4.
384 Cure of Melancholy . [Part. 2. Sec. %
veritati consentaneum, by Origanus, and asome others of his
followers. For, if the earth be the center of the world, stand
still, and the heavens move, as the most received opinion is,
which they call inordinatam cceli dispositionem , though stifly
maintained by Tycho, Ptolomasus, and their adherents, quis
ille furor ? See. what fury is that, saith b Dr. Gilbert, satis
animose, as Cabeus notes, that shall drive the heavens
about with such incomprehensible celerity in 24 houres, when
as every point of the firmament, and in the eequator, must
needs move (so c Clavius calculates) 176660 in one 246th part
of an houre: and an arrow out of a bow must goe seven times
about the earth, whiles! a man can say an Ave Maria, if it
keep the same space, or compass the earth 1884 times in an
houre ; which is supra humanttm cogitationem, beyond human
conceit : Ocyor et jaculo, et ventos cequante sagitta. A
man could not ride so much ground, going 40 miles a day,
in 2904 yeeres, as the firmament goes in 24 houres; or so much
in 203 yeeres, as the said firmament in one minute ; quod in-
credibile videtur : and the d pole star, which to our thinking
. scarce moveth out of his place, goeth a bigger circuit than the
sun, whose diameter is much larger than the diameter of the
heaven of the sun, and 20000 semidiameters of the earth from
us, with the rest of the fixed stars, as Tycho proves. To avoid
therefore these impossibilities, they ascribe a triple motion to
the earth, the sun immovable in the center of the whole world,
the earth center of the moon, alone, above $ and 8 , beneath
t? , $ , (or, as eOriganus and others wil, one single motion
to the earth, still placed in the center of the world, ithich is
more probable) a single motion to the firmament, which moves
in SO or 26 thousand yeeres ; and so the planets, Saturn'e in 30
yeeres absolves his sole and proper motion, Jupiter in 12,
Mars in 3, Sec. and so salve all apparences better than anyway
whatsoever : calculate all motions, be they in longum or latum,-
direct, stationary, retrograde, ascent or descent, without epi¬
cycles, intricate, eccenf ricks, &c. rectius commodiusque per
unicum motum terree, saith Lansbergius, much more certain
than by those Alphonsine, or any such tables, which are
grounded from those other suppositions. And ’tis true, they
say, according to optick principles, the visible apparances of the
planets doso indeed answer to their magnitudes and orbes, and
comeneeresttomathematicall observations, and precedent cal¬
culations; there is no repugnancy to physicallaxiomes, because
a Peculiari libello. b See M. Carpenters Gteogr. cap. 4. lib. 1, Campanella et
Origanus praef. Ephemer. where Scripture places are answered. c De Magnete.
Comment, in 2. cap. sphaer. Jo. de Sacr. Eosc. . d Dist. 3, gr. 1. a Polo,
e Praef. Epbem.
Mem. 3.]
385
Digression of Ayre.
no penetration of orbes: but then, between the sphere of Saturne
and the firmament, there is such an incredibl e and vast a space or
distance (7000000 semidiameters of the earth, as Tycho calcu¬
lates) void of stars: and besides, they do so inhance the bigness of
the stars, enlarge the circuit, to salve those ordinary objections
of parallaxes and retrogradations of the fixed stars, that alter¬
ation of the poles, elevation in severall places or latitude of
cities here on earth (for, say they, if a mans eye were in the
firmament, he should not at all discern that great annuall mo¬
tion of the earth, but it would still appear punctum indivisible ,
and seem to be fixed in one place, of the same bigness) that it is
quite opposite to reason, to natural philosophy, and all out-as
absurd as disproportionall (so some will), as prodigious, as that
of the Suns swift motion of heavens. But hoe posiio, to grant
this their tenent of the earths motion ; if the earth move, it is
a planet and shines to them in the moon, and to the other
planetary inhabitants, as the moon and they do to us upon the
earth: but shine she doth, as Galilie, b Kepler, and others
prove ; and then per eonsequens, the rest of the planets are
inhabited^ as well as the moon ; which he grants in his disserta-
tation with Galilies Nuncius Sidereus, c that there he Joviall
and Saturnine inhabitants, %c. and those severall planets have
their severall moons about them, as the earth hath hers, as
Guldens hath already evinced by his glasses; dfour about
Jupiter, two about Saturne (though Sitius the Florentine, For-
tunius Licetus, and Jul. Caesar le Galla cavill at it) : yet
Kepler, the emperours mathematician, confirms out of his ex¬
perience, that he saw as much by the same help, and more
about Mars, Yenus; and the rest they hope to find out, per-
adventure even amongst the fixed stars, which Brunus and
Brutius have already averred. Then (Isay) the earth and they
be planets alike, inhabited alike, moved about the sun, the com¬
mon center of the world alike : and it may be, those two green
children, which e Nubrigensis speaks of in his time, that fell
from heaven, came from thence ; and that famous stone that
fell from heaven, in Aristotles time, oiymp. 84, anno tertio, ad
Capuce Fluenta , recorded by Laertius and others, or Ancile
a Which may be full of planets, perhaps, to us unseen, as those about Jupiter, &c.
t> Luna circuinterrestris planeta quum sit, consentaneum est esse in luna viventes
creatures ; et singulis planetarum globis sui serviunt circulatores ; ex qua considerations
de eorum incoiis snmma probabilitate concludimus, quod et Tychoni Braheo, e sola
consideratione vastitatis .eorum, visum fait. Kepi, dissert cum nun. sid. £ 29.
c Temperare non possum quin ex inventis tuis hoc moneam, veri non absimile, non
tam in Luna, sed etiam in Jove, et reliquis planetis incolas esse. Kepi. fo. 26. Si
non sint accolea in Jovis globo, qui notent admirandam hanc varietatem oculis, cui
bono quatuor illi planet® Jovem circumcursitant ? d Some of those above Jupiter
1 have seen myself by the help of a glass 8 foot long. e Rerum AngL L 1. c. 27.
de viridibus pueris.
386
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
or buckler in Numas time, recorded by Festus. We may
likewise insert with Campanella and Brunus, that which Py¬
thagoras, Aristarchus Samius, Heraclitus, Epicurius,Melissus,
Democritus, Leucippus, maintained in their ages, there be
a infinite worlds , and infinite earths or systemes, in inf nito
ceihere ; which bEusebius collects out of their tenents, because
infinite stars and planets like unto this of ours, which some
stick not still to.maintain and publikely defend ; sperabundus
exspecto mnumerabilium mundorum in ceternitate perambu-
lationem , fyc. (Nic. Hill Londinensis philos. Epicur.) For
if the firmament be of such an incomparable bigness, as these
Copernicall giants will have it, infinitum, aut infinito proximum,
so vast and full of innumerable stars, as being infinite in
extent, one above andther, some higher, some lower, some
neerer, some farther off, and so far asunder, and those so huge
and great ; insomuch, that, if the whole sphere of Saturn, and
all that is included in it, totum aggregaturn (as Fromundus
of Lovain in his tract, de immobilitate terras argues) evehatur
inter Stellas , videri a hobis non poterit, tarn immanis est dis-
tantia inter tellur era et fixas ; sed insiar puncti, fye. If our
world be small in respect, why may we not suppose a plurality
of worlds, those infinite stars visible in the firmament to be so
many suns, with particular fixt centers; to have likewise their
subordinate planets, as the sun hath his dancing still round
him? which cardinal! Cusanus,Walkarinus, Brunus, and some
others, have held, and some still maintain. Animas Ari-
stotelismo innutritas, et minutis speculationibus assuetas, secus
forsan, fyc. Though they seem close to us, they are infinitely
distant, and so per consequens , there are infinite habitable
worlds : what hinders ? Why should not an infinite cause
(as God is) produce infinite effects ? as Nic. Hill { Democrit .
philos.) disputes : Kepler (I confess) will by no means admit
of Brunus infinite worlds, or that the fixed stars should be so
many suns, with theircompassingplanets; yetthesaid cKepler,
betwixt jest and earnest, in his Perspective, Lunar Geography,
& et Somnio suo , Dissert at. cum nunc, sider . seems in part to
agree with this, and partly to contradict. For the planets, he
yeelds them to be inhabited ; he doubts of the stars : and so
dothTycho inhis A stronomicall Epistles, out of a consideration
of their vastity and greatness, break out into some such like
speeches, that he will never beleeve those great and huge bodies
were made to no other use than this that we perceive, to illu-
a Infiniti alii mundi, vel, ntBrnnus/ terras, hnic nostras similes. bLibrocont.
pbilos. cap. 29. c Kepler^ fol. 2. dissert. Quid impedit quin credamus ex his
initiis, plures alios mundos detegendos, vel (ut Democrito placuit) infinites ? d Lege
somnium Kepleri, edit. 1635.
Mem. 3.]
387
Digression of Ay re,
minate the earth, a point insensible, in respect of the whole.
But who shall dwell in these vast bodies, earths, worlds, aj/“ they _
he inhabited? rationall creatures? as Kepler demands; or have
they souls to he saved ? or do they inhabit a better •pari of the
world than we do ? are we or they lords of the world ? and how
are all things made for man ? Difficile est nodurn hunc expedire,
eo quod nondum omnia, quce hue pertineat, explorata hdbemus ;
’tis hard to determin ; this only he proves, that we are in
prcBcipuo mundi sinu, in the best place, best world, neerest
the heart of the sun. b Thomas Campanella, a Calabrian
monk, (in his second book de sensu rerum, cap. 4) subscribes
to this of Keplerus; that they are inhabited he certainly sup-
poseth, but with what kind of creatures he cannot say ; he
labours to prove it by all means : and , that there are infinite
worlds, having made an apologie for Galileus, and dedicates
this tenet of his to Cardinal! Cajetanus. Others freely speak,
mutter; and would perswade the world (as cMarinus Marcenus
complains) that our modern divines are too severe and rigid
against mathematicians ; ignorant and peevish, in not ad¬
mitting their true demonstrations and certain observations,
that they tyrannize over art, science, and all philosophy, in
suppressing theirlabours, (saithPomponatius) forbidding them
to write, to speak a truth, all to maintain their superstition,
and for their profits sake. As for those places of Scripture
which oppugne it, they will have spoken ad captum vulgi, and
if rightly understood, and favorably interpreted, not at all
against it : and as Otho Gasman ( Astrol . cap. l.part. 1) notes,
many great divines, besides Porphyrius, Proclus, Simplicius,
and those heathen philosophers, do'etrind et relate venerandi,
Jilosis Genesin mundanam popularis nescio cujus ruditatis ,
quce longe absit a verd philosophorum eruditione, insimulant :
for Moses makes mention but of two planets, 0 and & . no
4 elements, &c. Reade more in him, in dGrossius and
Junius. But to proceed, these and such like insolent and bold
attempts, prodigious paradoxes, inferences must needs follow,
if it once be granted, which Rotman, Kepler, Gilbert, Pig-
geus, Origanus, Galileus, and others maintain of the earths
motion, that tis a planet, and shines as the moon doth.
a Quid igitur inqnies, si sint in ccelo plures globi, similes nostrse telluris? an cum
illis certabimus, quis meliorem mundi plagam teaeat? Si nobiliores iliorum globi,
nos non sumus creaturarum rationalium nobilissimi: quomodo igitur omnia propter
hominem ? quomodo nos. domini operum Dei ? Kepler, fol. 29, b Francofort.
quarto, 1620. ibid. 40. 1622. c Prsefat. in Comment in Genesin. Modo suadent
theologos summa ignoratione versari, veras scientias admittere nolle, et tyrannidem.
exercere, ut eos falsis dogmatibus, superstitionibus, et religione -catholic a detineant.
d'Theat. Biblico.
388 Cure of Melancholy* [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
which contains in it a both land and sea as the moon doth ;
for so they find by their glasses that maculae in facie Lunce ,
the brighter parts are earth, the duskie sea, which Thales,
Plutarch, and Pythagoras, formerly taught ; and manifestly
discern hills and dales, and such like concavities, if we may
subscribe to and beleeve Galilies observations. But to avoid
these paradoxes of the earths motion (which the Church of
Rome hath lately b condemned as heretical], as appeares by
Blancanus and Fromundus writings) , our latter mathematicians^
have rolled all the stones that may be stirred; and, to salve all
appearances and objections, have invented new hypotheses;
and fabricated new systems of the world, out of their own
Daedalean heads. Fracastorius will have the earth stand still,
as before ; and to avoid that supposition of ecCentricks and
epicycles, he has coined 72 homocentricks, to salve all ap¬
pearances. Nicholas Ramerus will have the earth the center
of the world, but moveable, and the eighth sphere immove¬
able, the five upper planets to move above the sun, the sun and
moon about the earth. OF which brbes, c Tycho Brahe puts
the earth the center immoveable, the stars immoveable, the
rest with Ramerus, the planets without orbe§ to wander in the
aire, keep time and distance, true motion, according to that
vertue which God hath given them. d Heliseeus Rmslih cOtt-
sureth both, with Copernicus {whose hypothesis de terra*
moiu , Philippus Lansbergius hath lately vindicated, and de¬
monstrated with solid arguments in a just volume, Jansonius
Cassius hath illustrated in a sphere). The said Johannes .Lans-
bergius, 1633, hath since defended his assertion against all the
eavills and calumnies of Fromundus his Anti-Aristarchus, ;
Baptista Morinus, and Petrus Bartholinus : Fromundus, 1634,
hath written against him again, J. Rosseus of Aberdine, &c.
(sound drummes and trumpets) whilest Rceslin (I say) censures
all, andPtolomaeus himself as unsufficient: one offends against
natural! philosophy, another against optick principles, a third
against mathematical!, as not answering’ to astronomicall ob¬
servations : one puts a great space betwixt Saturnus orbe and
the eighth sphere, another too narrow. In his own hypothesis
he makes the earth, as before, the universal! center, the sun to
the five upper planets : to the eighth sphere he ascribes diurnall
motion, eccentricks and epicycles to the seven planets, which
hath been formerly exploded ; and so,
(Dum vitant stulti vitia, in contraria currant)
a His argnmentis plane satisfecisti ; do macalas in Inna esse maria; do lacidas
partes esse terrain. Kepler, fol. 16. b Anno 1616. e In Hypothes. de
mundo, Edit. 1597. _ dLugdimi 1633.
Mem. 3.]
Digression of Ayre. 389
as a tinker stops one hole and makes two, he corrects them,
and doth worse himself ; reformes some, and marres all. In
the mean time, the world is tossed in a blanket amongst them;
they hoyse the earth up and down like a ball, make it stand
and goe at their pleasures. One saith the sun stands ; another,
he moves; a third comes in, taking them all at rebound ; and,
lest there should any paradox be wanting, he a Andes certain
spots and cloudes in the sun, by the help of glasses, which
multiply (saith Keplerus) a thing seen a thousand times bigger
in piano , and make it come 32 times neerer to the eye of the .
beholder: but see the demonstration of this glass in bTarde,by
means of which, the sun must turn round upon his own center,
or they about the sun. Fabricius puts only three, and those
in the sun : Apelles, 15, and those without the sun, floating
like the Cyanean isles in the Euxine sea. c Tarde the French¬
man hath observed S3, and those neither spots nor clouds, as
Galileos (Epist. ad Vekerum) supposeth, but planets concen-
trick with the sun, and not far from him, with regular motions.
d Christopher Schemer a German Suisser Jesuit, Ursica Rosa,
divides them in maculas etfaculas, and will have them to be
fixed in solis superficie, and to absolve their periodical! and
regular motion in §7 or 28 dayes; holding withall the rotation
of the sun upon his center : and are all so confident, that they
have made skemes and tables of their motions. The e Hol¬
lander, in his dissertatiuncula cum Apelle^ censures all ; and
thus they disagree aniongst themselves, old and new, irreeon-
cileable in their opinions ; thus Aristarchus, thus Hipparchus,
thus Ptolomaeus, thus Albateginus, thus Aifraganus, thus
Tycho, thus Romerus, thus Rosslinus, thus Fracastorius, thus
Copernicus and his adherents, thus Clavius and Maginus, &c.
with their followers, vary and determine of these eelestiall
orbs and bodies ; and so, whilest these men contend about the
sun and moon, like the philosophers in Lucians, it is to be
feared the sun and moon will hide themselves, and be as
much offended as fshee was with those, and send another mes¬
sage to Jupiter, by some new fangled Icaromenippus, to make
an end of all those curious controversies, and scatter them
abroad.
But why should the sun and moon be angry, or take ex=
ceptions atmathematieians and philosophers, when as the like
measure is offered unto God himself, by a company of theolo-
a Jo. Fabricius, de maculis in sole, Witeb. 1611. bIn Burboniis sideribns.
cLib. de Burboniis sid. Stellas sunt erratic®, quae propriis orbibus feruntnr, non longe
a sole dissitis, sed jnxta solem. d Braccini, fol. 1630. lib, 4. cap. 52, 55, 59, &c.
eLugdun. Bat An; 1612- f Ne se snbducant, et relicta statione decessum
parent, nt curiositatis finem faciant.
390
Cure of Melancholy . [Part* 2. Sec. 2:
gasters? They are not contented to see the son and moon, mea¬
sure their site and biggest distance in a glass, calculate their mo¬
tions, or visit the moon in a poeticall fiction, or a dream, as he
saith : a audax f acinus et memor abile nunc indpiam, neque
hoc seeculo usurpatum prius : quid in Lunce regno liac node
gesture sit, exponam, et quo nemo unquam nisi somniando per-
venit, but he and Menippus or as -b Peter Cuneus, bond fide
agam: nihil eorum, qure. scripturus sum, verum: esse sciioter
Sfc. quce nec facta, nee futur a sint, dicam, ? sty li iantum et
ingenii earns a : not in jest, but in good earnest, these gygan-
ticall Cyclopes will transcend spheres, heaven, stars, into that
empyrean heaven ; soare higher yet; and see what God him¬
self doth. The Jewish Thalmudisfs take upon them to deter¬
mine how Godspeeds his whole time, sometimes playing with
Leviathan, sorpetimes over-seeing the world, &c. like Lucians
Jupiter, that spent much of the year in pain thug butter-flies
wings, and seeing who offered sacrifice; telling the houres
when it should rain, how much snow should fall in such a place,
which way the winde should stand in Greece, which way in
Africk. In the Turks Alcoran, Mahomet is taken up to
heaven, upon a Pegasus sent a purpose for him, as he lay in
bed with his wife, and, after some conference with God, is set
on groundagain, The pagans paint him and mangle him after
a thousand fashions ; our hereticks, schismaticks, and some
schoolmen, come not far behind -. some paint him in the habit
of an old man, and make maps of heaven, number the angels,
tell their severall dnames, offices : some deny God and his pro¬
vidence ; some take his office out of his hand, will ebinde and
loose in heaven, release, pardon, forgive, and be quarter-master
with him; some call his Godhead in question, his power and
attributes, his mercy, justice, providence ; they will know with
f Csecilius, why good and bad are punishedtogether, war, fires,
plagues, infest all alike, why wicked men flourish, good are
poor, in prison, sick, and ill at ease. Why doth he suffer so
much mischief and evill to be done, if he be gable to help?
why doth he not assist good, or resist bad, reform our wills, if
he be not the author of sin, and let such enormities be com¬
mitted, unworthy of his knowledge, wisdome, government,
mercy, and providence? why lets he all things be done by for¬
tune and chance ? Others as prodigiously enquire after his
a Hercules, team fidem ! Satyra Menip. edit. 1608. _ b Sardi venal'es. Satyr.
Menip. an. 1612. c Puteani Comus sic incipit, or as Lipsius Satyrein a dream.
dTrithemins, 1. de 7. secundis. _ eThev Have fetched Trajanus soul out of hell,
and canonize for saints -whom they list. f In Minutius. Sine delectu tempestates
tangunt loca sacra et profana ; bonorum et malorum fata juxta^ nullo ordine res fiunt :
soluta legibus fortuna dominate. sVel malus vel impotens, qui peecatum per-
_;#iittit, &c. unde hsec superstitio ?
Mem. 3.]
Digression of Ayr e. 39 1
omnipotency, an possit plures similes creare Deos ? an esc
scar ab mo Deum? Sf-c. et quo demum ruetis, sacrifculi ? Some,
by visions and revelations, take upon them to be familiar with
God, and to be of privie counsell with him; they will tell
how many, and who, shall be saved, when the world shall
come to an end, what year, whatmoneth, and whatsoever else.
God hath reserved unto himself, and to his angels. Some
again, curious phantasticks, will know more than this, and en¬
quire, with aEpicurus, what God did before the world was
made ? was he idle ? where did he bide ? what did he make
the world of? why did he then make it, and not before ? If
he made it new, or to have an end, how is he unchangeable,
infinite? &c. Some will dispute, cavill, and object, as Julian
did of old, whom Cyrill confutes, as Simon Magus is fained
to do, in that b dialogue betwixt him and Peter: and Ammonius
the philosopher, in that dialogical! disputation with Racha-
rias the Christian. If God be infinitely and only good, why
should he alter or destroy the world? if he confound that
which is good, how shall himself continue good? if he pull it
down because evill, how shall he be free from the evill, that
made it evill? &c. with many such absurd and brain-sick
questions, intricacies, froth of humane wit, and excrements of
curiosity, &c. which, as our Saviour told his inquisitive dis¬
ciples, are not fit for them to know. But hoo ! 1 am now gone
quite out of sight : I am almost giddy with roving' about : I
could have ranged further yet ; but I am an infant, and not
able to dive into these profundities, or sound these depths ;
not c able to understand, much less to discuss. I leave the
contemplation of these things to stronger wits, that have
better ability, and happier leisure, to wade into sueh philoso¬
phical! mysteries : for put case I were as able as willing, yet
what can one man do ? I will conclude with d Scaliger, Nequa-
quam nos homines sumus, sed partes kominis : ex omnibus ali-
quid fieri potest, idque non magnum; ex singulis fere nihil.
Besides (as Nazianzen hath it) Deus latere nos multa voluit :
and with Seneca, (cap. 35. de Cometis ) Quid miramur tarn
rara mundi -spectacula non teneri certis legibus, nondum in-
tettigi ? multce sunt gentes, quae iantum de facie sciunt cae¬
lum: veniet tempus fortasse, quo ista, quae nunc latent , in
lucem dies extrahat longioris cevi diligentid : una cetas non
sufficit: posteri, fyc. when God sees his time, he will reveal
these mysteries to mortall men, and shew that to some few at
a Quid fecit Deus* ante mundum creatnm? nbi visit otiosas a sno snbjecto, &c.
bLib. 3. recog. Pet. cap. 3. Peter answers by the simile of an egge-shell, which is
cunningly made, yet of necessity to be broken ; so is the world, &c. that the excellent
state of heaven might be made manifest. cIJt me plnma levat, sic grave mer-
git onus. a Exercit 184.
VOL. I.
L L
392
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
last, which he hath concealed so long. For i am of a his mind,
thatColumbus did not find out America by chance, but God
directed him at that time to discover it: it was contingent to
him, but necessary to God; he reveals and conceals, to whom
and when he will : and, which b one said of history and records
of former times, God in his providence, to check our presump¬
tuous inquisition , wraps up all things in uncertainty, bars us
from long antiquity, and bounds our search within the compass
of some few ages. Many good things are lost, which our pre¬
decessors made use of, as Paneirolla will better enform you ;
many new things are daily invented, to the publike good;
so kingdomes, men, and knowledge, ebbe and flow, are hid
and revealed : and when you have all done, as the preacher
concluded, Nihil est sub sole novum. But my melancholy
spaniels quest, my game is sprung, and I must suddenly come
down and follow.
Jason Pratensis, in his book de morbis capitis , and chapter
of Melancholy, hath these words out of Galen, c Let them
come to me to know what meat and drink they shall use ; and,
besides that, I will teach them what temper of ambient aire
they shall make choice of, what wind , what countries they
shall chuse, and what avoid. Out of which lines of his, thus
mu ch we may gather, that, to this cure of melancholy, amongst
other things, the rectification of aire is necessarily required.
This is performed either in reforming natural! or artificiall
aire. Natural is that which is in oiir election to chuse or avoid:
and ’tis either generall, to countries, provinces, particular, to
cities, towns, villages, or private houses. What harm those
extremities of heat or cold do in this malady, I have formerly
shewed ; the medium must needs be good, Avhere the aire is
temperate',serene, quiet, free from bogs, fens, mists, all man¬
ner of putrefaction, contagious and filthy noisom smels. The
d Egyptians by all geographers are commended to be hilares, a
conceited and merry nation ; which I can ascribe to no other
cause than the serenity of their aire. They that live in the
Orchades are registred by eHector Boethius and f Cardan to
be fair of complexion, long-lived, most healthfull, free from
all manner of infirmities of body and mind, by reason of a
sharp purifying aire, which comes frOm the sea. The Boeotians
in Greece were dull and heavy, crassi Boeoti, by reason of a
foggy aire in which they lived,
aLaet. descript. occid.£ndise. b Daniel, principio historise. cVeniant
ad me, auditari quo esculento, quo item poculento uti debeant, et prater alimentum,
ipsum, potnmqne, vfcntos ipsos docebo, item aeris ambientis temperiem, insuper
regiones quas eligere, quas vitare, ex nsu sit. d Leo Afer, Maginus, &e.
'Lib. 1. Scot Hist fLib. 1. de rer. var.
Mem. 3.]
Ayre rectified.
393
(a Beeotfrm in crasso jurares aere natnm.)
Attica most acute, pleasant, and refined. The clime changeth
not So much customes, manners, wits (as Aristotle, Polit.
lib. 6. cap. 4. Vegetius, Plato, Bodine, method, hist, cap . 5.
hath proved at large) as constitutions of their bodies, and tem¬
perature itself. In all particular provinces we see it confirmed
by experience ; as the aireis, so are the inhabitants, dull, hea¬
vy, witty, subtle, neat, cleanly, clownish, sick, and sound. In
bPerigort in France, the aire is subtile, healthfull, seldome any
plague or contagious disease, but hilly and barren ; the men,
Sound, nimble, and lusty; but in some parts of Quienne full of
moores and marishes, the people dull, heavy, and subject to
many infirmities. Who sees not a great difference betwixt
Surry, Sussex, and Rurnny marsh, the wolds in Lincolnshire,
and the fens ? He, therefore, that loves his health, if his ability
will give him leave, must often shift places, and make choice of
such as ares wholsome, pleasant, and convenient ; there is no¬
thing better than the change of aire in this malady, and, gene¬
rally for health, to wander up and down, as those cTartari
Zamolhenses, that live in hords, and take opportunity of times,
places, seasons. The kings of Persia had their summer and
winter houses ; in winter at Sardis, in summer at Susa ; now
at Persepolis, then at Pasargada. Gyrus lived seven cold months
at Babylon, three at Susa, two at Ecbatana, saith d Xenophon,
and had by that means a perpetual spring. The great Turk
sojourns sometimes at Constantinople, sometimes at Adriano-
ple, Sec. The kings of Spain have their Escuriall in heat of
summer, °Madrittefor an wholesome seat, Villadolitte a plea¬
sant site, See. variety of secessus, as all princes and great men
have; and their severall progresses to this purpose. Lucullus
the Roman had his house at Rome, at Baiae, &c; fWhen
Gn. Pompcius, Marcus Cicero, (saith Plutarch) and many no¬
ble men, in the summer came to see him, at supper Pompeius
jested with him, that it was an elegant and pleasant village, full
of windows, galleries, and all offices fit for a summer house;
but, in his judgment, very unfit for winter : Lucullus made an¬
swer, that the lord of the house had wit like a crane, that
changeth her country with the season ; he had other houses
furnished and built for that purpose, all out as commodious as
this. So Tully had his Tuseulane, Plinius his Lauretan vil-
a-Horat. 6 Maginas. c- Haitonus, de Tartaris. a Cyropsed. li. 8. Perpefaum
indeyer. . « The aire so clear, it never breeds the plague. fLeander Alber¬
tos, in Campania, e Plutarcho, vita Luculli. Cum Cn. Pompeius, Marcus Cicero,
multique nobiles viri, L. Lucullum sestivo tempore convenissent, Pompeius inter coenan-
dum familiariter jocafas est, earn villam imprimis sibi sumtuosam et elegantem videri,
fenestris, porticibus, &c.
i. x 2
394
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
Iage, and every gentleman of any fashion in our times hath the
like. The a bishop of Exeter had 14 severall houses all fur¬
nished, in times past. In Italy, though they bide in cities in
winter, which is more gentleman-like, all the summer they
come abroad to their country-houses, to recreate themselves.
Our gentry in England live most part in the country (except
it be some few castles), building still in bottoms (saith bJovius)
or neer woods, corona arborum virentium : you shall know a
village by a tuft of trees at or about it, to avoid those strongs
winds wherewith the island is infested, and cold winter blasts.
Some discommend moted houses, as unwholsome, (so Camden
saith of c Ew-elme, that it was therefore unfrequented, oh
stagni vicini halitus) and all such places as be neer lakes or
rivers. But I am of opinion, that these inconveniences will
be mitigated, or easily corrected, by good fires, as done reports
of Venice, that graveolentia and fog of the moors is suffi¬
ciently qualified by those innumerable smoaks. Nay more,:
e Thomas Philol. Ravennas, a great physician, contends that
the Venetians are generally longer lived than any city in Eu¬
rope, and live, many of them, 120 yeers. But it is not water
simply that so much offends, as the slime and noisome smels
that accompany such overflowed places, which is but at some
few seasons after a floud, and is sufficiently recompensed with
sweet smels and aspects in summer, ( Ver pingit vario gem-
mantia prata colore ) and many other commodities of plea¬
sure and profit ; or else may be coiTected by the site, if it be
somewhat remote from the water, as Lindly, f Orton super
montem, g Drayton, or a little more elevated, though neerer, as
hCaucut, as 1 Amington, kPolesworth, W/eddington, (to insist
in such places best to me known) upon the river of Anker in
Warwickshire, mSwarston, and “Drakesly upon Trent. Or,
howsoever, they be unseasonable in winter, or at some times,
they have their good use in summer. If so be that their means
be so slender, as they may not admit of any such variety, but
must determine once for all, and make one house serve each
season, I know no men that have given better rules in this
behalf, than our husbandry writers. 0 Cato and Columella
prescribe a good house to stand by a navigable river, good
high-waies, neer some city and in a good soile; but that is
more for commodity than health.
a Godwin, vita Jo. Voysye al. Harman. e Descript. Brit. c In Oxford¬
shire. dLeander Albertus. eCap. 21. de vit. hom. prorog. fThe.
possession of Robert Bradshaw, Esq. sOf George Purefey. Esq. hThe
possession ofWiiliamPurefey, Esq. > The seat of Sir John Beppington, Kt.
a Sir Henry Goodieres, lately deceased. • iThe dwellinghonse ofHnm. Ad-
derly. Esq. “Sir John Harpars, lately deceased. , 11 Sir George Greseiles, Kt
01 Lib., 1. cap. 2.
Mem. 3.] Ayre rectified. 395
The best soile commonly yeelds the worst aire: a dry sandy
plat is fittest to build upon, and such as is rather hilly than
plain, full of downes, a cotswold country, as being most com¬
modious for hawking, hunting, wood, waters, and all manner
of pleasures. Perigot in France is barren, yet, by reason of
the excellency of the aire, and such pleasures that it affords,
much inhabited by the nobility ; as Noremberg in Germany,
Toledo in Spain. Our countryman Tusser will tell us so
much, that the fieldone is for profit, the woodland for pleasure
and health, the one commonly a deep clay, therefore noisome
in winter, and subject to bad high- way es : the other a dry
sand. Provision may be had elsewhere, and our townes are
generally bigger in the woodland than fieldone, more fre¬
quent and populous, and gentlemen more delight to dwell in
such places. Sutton Coldfield in Warwickshire (where I was
once a grammar schollar) may be a sufficient witness, which
stands, as Camden notes, loco ingrato et sterili, but in an ex¬
cellent aire, and full of all maner of pleasures. a Wadley in
Barkshire is situate in a vale, though notsofertil a soile as some
vales afford, yet a most commodious site, wholsome, in a de¬
licious aire, a rich and pleasant seat. So Segrave in Leicester¬
shire (which towneb I am now bound to remember) is sited
in a champian, at the edge of the wolds, and more barren
than the villages about it; yet no place likely yeelds a better
aire, And he that built that faire house, c Wollerton in Not¬
tinghamshire, is much to be commended, (though the tract be
sandy and barren about it) for making choice of such a place.
Constantine '{lib: 2. cap. de agricult .) praiseth mountaines,
hilly, steep places, above the rest by the sea side, and such as
look toward the d north upon some great river, as eFarmack in
Darbishire on the Trent, environed with hils, open only to the
north, like Mount Edgemond in Cornwall, which Mr. f Ca-
rew so much admiresfor an excellent seat: such as is the ge¬
neral! site of Bohemia: serenat Boreas; the north -wind clari¬
fies; s but neer lakes or marishes, in holes, obscure places , or
to the south and west, he utterly disproves: those winds are
unwholsome, putrifying, and make men subject to diseases.
The best building for health, according to him, is in h high
places, and in an excellent prospect , like that of Cuddeston
aThe seat of G. Parefey, Esq. 13 For I am now incumbent of that rectory, pre¬
sented thereto by my right honorable patron, the Lord Berkly. c Sir Francis Wil¬
loughby. d Mpntani et maritimi salubriores, acclives, et ad Boream vergentes.
e The dwelling of Sir To. Burdet, Knight Baronet. f In his Survay of Cornwall,
book 2. S Prope paludes, stagna, etloca concava, vel ad Austrum, vel ad Occi-
dentem inclinat®, domus sunt morbosse. - Oportet igitur ad sanitatem domus in
altioribus aedificare, et ad speculationem.
396
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. See. 2.
in Oxfordshire (which place I must, honoris ergo , mention) is
lately and fairly a built in a good aire, good prospect, good
soile, both for profit and pleasure, not so easily to be matched.
P. Crescentius (inhisH&. I. de Agric. cap. 5) is very copious
in this subject, how a house should be wholsomely sited, in a
good coast, good aire, wind, &c. Varro (de re rvst. Mb. 1.
cap. 12.) b forbids lakes and rivers, marish and manured
grounds: they cause a bad aire, gross diseases,, hard to be
Cured : cifit be so that he cannot help it, better as Tie adviseth,
sell thy house and land, than lose thine health. He that re¬
spects not this in ehusing of his seat, or building his house, is
mente captus , mad, d Cato saith, and his dwelling next to hell
it self, according to Columella; he commends, in conclusion,
the middle of a hill, upon a descent. Baptista Porta (Villas,
lib. 1. cap. 22) censures Varro, Cato, Columella, ana those
ancient rusticks, approving many things, disallowing some,
and will by all means have the front of an house stand to the
south, which how it may be gbod in Italy and hotter climes,
I know not; in our northern countries I am sure it is best.
Stephanus, a Frenchman (prcedio rustic, lib. 1. cap. 4) sub¬
scribes to this, approving especially the descent of an hill south
or south east, with trees to the north, so that it be well wa¬
tered ; a condition in all sites, which must riot be omitted, as
Herbastein inculcates, lib. I. Julius Caesar Claudin us, a physi¬
cian, consult. 24 for a nobleman in Poland, melancholy given,
adviseth him to dwell in a house inclining to the eeast, and fby
all means to provide the aire be cleer and sweet ; which Mon-
tanus (consil. 229) counselleth the earle of Monfort his pa¬
tient — rto inhabit a pleasant house and in a good aire. If it be
so the naturall site may not be altered of our city, town, vil¬
lage, yet by artificial means it may be helped. In hot coun¬
tries, therefore, they make the streets of their cities very
narrow, all over Spain, Africk, Italy, Greece, and many cities
of France, in Languedock especially, and Provence, those
southern parts : Monpelier, the habitation and university of
physicians, is so built, with high houses, narrow streets, to di¬
vert the sun’s scalding rayes, which Tacitus commends, (lib.Xb.
Annul.) as most agreeing to their health, % because the height
aBy John Bancroft, Dr. of Divinity, my quondam tutor in Christ-Church, Oxon, now
the Right Reverend Lord Bishop of Oxon, who built this house for himself and his
successors. b Hyeme exit vehementer frigida, et sestate non salubris : paludes
enim faciunt crassum aerem, et difficiles morbos. c Vendas quot assibus possis,
et si nequeas, relinquas. d Lib. 1. cap. 2. In Oreo habitat e Aurora Musis
arnica. Vitruv. tildes Orientem spectantes vir nobilissimus inhabitet, et caret
ut sit aer clarus, lucidus, odoriferus. Eligat habitationem optimo aere jucnndam.
sQuoniam angust® itinerum et altitudo tectorum non perinde solis calorem ddmittunt.
397
Mem. 3.] Ayre rectified.
of buildings, and narrowness of streets, keep away the sun
beams. Some cities use galleries, or arched cloysters towards
the street, as Damascus, Bologna, Padua, Berna in Switzer¬
land, Westchester with us, as well to avoid tempests, as the
suns scorching heat. They build in high hills in hot coun¬
tries, for more aire ; or to the sea side, as Baise, Naples, &c.
In our northern coasts we are opposite; we commend straight,
broad, open, fair streets, as most befitting and agreeing to our
clime. We build in bottomes for warmth : and that site of
Mitylene in the island of Lesbos, in the JEgaaan Sea, (which
Vitruvius so much discommends, magnificently built with fair
houses, sed imprudenter positam , unadvisedly sited, because
it lay along to the south, and when the south wind blew, the
people were all sick) woidd make an excellent site in our
northern climes.
Of that artificial! site of houses I have sufficiently discours¬
ed : if the site of the dwelling may not be altered, yet there is
much in choice of such a chamber or room, in opportune
opening and shutting of windowes, excluding forrain aire and
winds, and walking abroad at convenient times, aCrato, a
German, commends east and south site (disallowing* cold aire
and northern winds in this case, rainy weather and misty
dayes) free from putrefaction, fens, bogs, and muckhills. If
the aire be such, open no windowes ; come not abroad. Mon-
tanus will have his patient not to bstir at all, if the wind be
big or tempestuous, as most part in March it is with us ; or
in cloudy, louring, dark dayes, as in November, which we
commonly call the black moneth ; or stormy* let the wind
stand how it will : consil. 27 and 30, he must not c open a
casement in bad weather, or in a boisterous season; consil.
299, he especially forbids us to open windows to a south wand.
The best site for chamber windows? in my judgement, are
north, east, south ; and which is the worst, west. Levinus
Lemnius (lib. 3. cap. 3. de occult, nat. mir.) attributes so much
to aire, and rectifying of wind and windowes, that he holds
it alone sufficient to make a man sick or well ; to alter body
and minde. dA deer aire cheares up the spirits, exhilarates
the mbule ; a thick, black, misty, tempestuous, contracts, over¬
throws. Great heed is therefore to be taken atwhat times we
walke, how we place our wundows, lights, and houses, how
_aConsil. 21. li. 2.- Frigidns aer, nubilosus, densns, vitandus, seque ac venti septem-
trionales, &c. _ J? Consil. 24. ' cFenestram non aperiat. d Discutit sol
horrorem crassi spiritus„ mentem exhilarat; non enim tam corpora, qaam et animi, mu¬
tation em inde subennt, pro coeli et ventorum ratione, et sani aliter affecti suntcoelonu-
bilo, aliter sereno. De natura ventorum, see. Pliny, lib. 2. cap. 26. 27, 28. Strabo,
' li. 7. &c. .
398 Cure of Melancholy . [Part. 2. Sec. 2,
We let in or exclude this ambient aire. The Egyptians, to
avoid immoderate heat, make their windows on the top of the
house, like chimnies, with two tunnels to draw a through aire.
In 'Spain they commonly make great opposite windows with¬
out glass, still shutting those which are next to the sun.
So likewise in Turkey and Italy (Venice excepted, which
brags of her stately glazed palaces) they use paper windows
to like purpose; and ive sub dio, in the top of their flat-roofed
houses, so sleeping under the canopy of heaven. In some
parts of a Italy they have windmills, to draw a cooling aire out
of hollow caves, and disperse* the same through all the cham¬
bers of their palaces, to refresh them ; as at Costoza the house
of Osesareo Trento, a gentleman of Vicenza, and elsewhere.
Many excellent means are invented to correct nature by art.
If none of these courses help, the best way is to make artifi¬
cial! aire, which howsoever is profitable and good, still to be
made hot and moist, and to be seasoned with sweet perfumes,
b pleasant and lightsome as may be ; to have roses, violets, and
sweet smelling flowers ever in their windows, posies in their
hand. Laurentius commends water-lillies, a vessel! of warm
water to evaporate in the room, which will make a more de¬
lightsome perfume, if there be added orange flowers, pills of
citrons, rosemary, cloves, bayes, rose-water, rose- vinegar, bel-
zoin, ladanum, styrax, and such like gums, which make a
pleasantand acceptable perfumer cBessardus Bisantinus pre¬
fers the smoak of juniper to melancholy persons, which is in
great request with us at Oxford, to sweeten our chambers.
dGuianerius prescribes the aire to be moistened with water,
and sweet herbs boiled in it, vine and sallow-leaves, &c. e to
besprinkle the ground and posts with rose-water, rose- vinegar,
which Avicenna much approves. Of colours it is good, to be¬
hold green, red, yellow, and white, and by all means to have
light enough with windows in the day, wax candles in the
night, neat chambers, good fires in winter, merry companions;
for, though melancholy persons love to be darke and alone,
yet darkness is a great encreaser of the humour.
Although our ordinary aire be good by nature or art, yet it is
not amiss, as 1 have said, still to alter it; no better physick for
a melancholy man than change of aire and variety of places, to
travel abroad and see fashions. f Leo Afer speakes of many of
his countrymen so cured, without all other physick; amongst
a Fines Morison, part. 1. c. 4. b Altomarus, cap. 7. Bruel. , Aer sit lucidus,
bene oiens5 hnmidns. Montaltus idem. ca. 26. Olfactus rerain suavium. Laurentius,
c. 8. c Ant Philos, cap. de melanc. d Tract. 15. c. 9. Ex redolentibus her-
bis et foliis vitis viniferae, salicis, &c. e Pavimentum acetoet aqua rosacea irrorare,
Laurent c, 8. fLib. 1. cap. de morb. Afrorum. In Nigritarum regione tantaaeris
temperies, ut siquis alibi morbosns eo advehatur, optimae statim sanitali restituatur i
quod multis ac.cidisse ipse meis ocnlis vidi.
Mem. 3.] Ayr e rectified. 399
the Negroes, there is such an excellent aire, that if any of
them he sick elsewhere, and brought thither , he is instantly re¬
covered ; of which he was often an eye-witness. a Lipsius,
Zuinger, and some other, adde as much of ordinary travell.
No man, saith Lipsius, in an epistle to Phil. Lanoius, a noble
friend of his, now ready to make a voyage, b can be such' a
stock or stone , whom that pleasant speculation of countries ,
cities, towns, rivers, will not affect. c Seneca the philoso¬
pher was infinitely taken with the sight of Scipio Africanus
house, near Linternum, to view those old buildings, cisterns, ,
bathes, tombs, Sec. And how was dTulIy pleased with the
sight of Athens, to behold those ancient and faire buildings,
with a remembrance of their worthy inhabitants. Paulus iEmi-
lius, that renowned Roman captain, after he had conquered
Perseus, the last king of Macedonia, and now made an end of
his tedious wars, though he bad been long absent from Rome,
and much there desired, about the beginning of autumne (as
e Livy describes it) made a pleasant peregrination all over
Greece, accompanied with his son Scipio, and Alhenseus the
brother of king Eumenes, leaving the charge of his army with
Sulpitius Gall us. By Thessaly he went to Belphos, thence to
Megaris, Aulis, Athens, Argos, Lacedaemon, Megalopolis, &c.
He took great content, exceeding delight, in that his voyage ;
as who doth not that shall attempt the like, though his travell
be ad jactationem magis quam ad usum reipub. (as fone well ,
observes) to cracke, gaze, see fine sights and fashions, spend
time, rather than for his own or publike good ? (asitistomany
gallants that travel out their best daies, together with their
means, manners, honesty, religion) yet it availefh howso¬
ever. For peregrination charmes our senses with such un¬
speakable and sweet variety, s that some count him nn-
happy that never travelled, a kinde of prisoner, and pity
his case, that from his cradle to his old age beholds the same
still; still, still the same, the same : insomuch that hRhasis
(cont. lib. 1. Tract. 2.) doth not only commend but en¬
joy n travell, and such variety of objects, to a melancholy
vman, and to lye in divers innes , to be drawn into sever all
companies. Montaltus (cap. 86) and many neotericks are of
the same minde. Celsus adviseth him, therefore, that will con¬
tinue his health, to have variam vitae genus, diversity of call¬
ings, occupations, to be busied about, 1 sometimes to live in
a Lib. de peregrinat. bEpist. 2. cen. 1. Nec qaisqnam tam lapis aut fratex,
quem non titillat amcena ilia, variaque spectio locorum, nrbium, gentium, &c.
cEpist.86. d 2 lib. de legibns. e Lib. 45. fKeckerman, prsefat
polit. g Fines Morison, c. 3. part 1. h Mutatio de loco in locnm, itinera
. et viagia longa et indeterminata, et bospitare in diversis diversoriis. n > Modo ruri
esse, modo in urbe, ssepius in agro venari, &c. \ -
400
[Part. % See. 2.
Cure of Melancholy.
the city, sometimes in the countrey ; now to study or work, to be
intent, then again to hawk or hunt , swim, run, ride, or exercise
himself. A good prospect alone will ease melancholy, as
Gomesius contends, lib. 2. c.l.de Sale. The citizens of aBar-
cino, saith he, otherwise penned in, melancholy, and stirring
little abroad, are much delighted with that pleasant prospect
their city hath into the sea, which, like that of old Athens, be¬
sides iEgina, Salamina, and many pleasant islands, had all the
variety of delicious objects: so are those Neapolitanes, and in¬
habitants of Genua, to see the ships, boats, and passengers,
go by, out of their windows, their whole cities beingsited on
the side of an hill, like Pera by Constantinople, so that each
house almost hath a free prospect to the sea, as some part of
London to the Thames : or to have a free prospect all over the
city at once, as at Granado in Spain, and Fez in Africk, the
river running betwixt two declining hills, the steepness causeth
each house almost as well to oversee, as to be overseen of the
rest. Every country is full of such b delightsome prospects, as
well within land as by sea, as Hermon and cRama in Palsestina,
Colalto in Italy, the top of Taygetus, orAcrocorinthus, that old
decayed castle in Corinth, from which Peloponnesus, Greece,
the Ionian and iEgsean seas, were, semel et simul, at one view
to be taken. In Egypt the square top of the great Pyramis 300
yards in height, and so the sultans palace in Grand Cairo, the
country being plain, hath a marvellous faire prospect, as well
over Nilus, as that great city, five Italian miles long, and two
broad, by the riverside: from mount Sion in Jerusalem the holy
land is of all sides to be seen. Such high places are infinite :
with us, those of the best note are Glassenbury tower, Sever
castle. Rodway Grange, dWalsby in Lincolnshire, where I
lately received a real kindness by the munificence of the right
honourable my noble lady and patroness, the Lady Frances
countess dowager of Exeter ; ana two amongst the rest, which
I may not omit for vicinities sake, Oldbury in the confines of
■Warwickshire, where I have often looked about me with
great delight, at the foot of which hill eI was born; and Han-
bury in Staffordshire, contiguous to which is Falde a pleasant
village, and an ancient patrimony belonging to our family,
now in the possession of mine elder brother William Burton,
esquire. f Barclay the Scot commends that of Greenwich
tower for one of the best prospects in Europe, to see London
on the one side, the Thames, ships, and pleasant meadows, on
a'In Catalonia in Spaine. b Laudaturqne domns, longos quse prospicit agros.
c Many towns there are of that name, saith Adricomin's, all high-sited. d Lately
resigned for some speciall reasons. e At Lindley in Lecestershire, the pos¬
session and dwelling place of Ralph Barton, Esquire, my late deceased father. ( In
Icon animorum.
Mem. 4.]
401
Exercise rectified.
tlie other. There he those that say as much and more of S‘.
Marks steeple in Venice. Yet these are too great a distance;
some are especially affected with such objects as be near, to see
passengers go by in some great rode way, or boats in a river,
in subjectum forum despicere, to oversee a fair, a market¬
place, or out of a pleasant window into some thorough-fare
street to behold a continual concourse, a promiscuous route,
coming and going, or a multitude of spectators at a theater,
a maske, or some such like shew. But I rove: the sum is this,
that variety of actions, objects, aire, places, are excellent good
in this infirmity and all others, good for man, good for beast.
^Constantine the emperour (lib. IB. cap. 13 ex Leontio ) holds
it an only cure for rotten sheep , and any manner of sicke cat tel,
Lselius a Fonte Eugubinus, that great doctor, at the latter end
of many of his consultations, (as commonly he doth set down
what success his physik had) in melancholy most especially
approves of this above all other remedies whatsoever, as ap¬
pears, consult. 69. consult. 229, fyc. b Many other things
helped; but change of aire was that which wrought the cure ,
and did most good.
MEMB. IV.
Exercise rectified of Body and Minde.
To that great inconvenience, which comes on the one side
by immoderate and unseasonable exercise, too much solitari¬
ness and idleness on the other, must be opposed, as an anti¬
dote, a moderate and seasonable use of it, and that both of
body and minde, as a most materiall circumstance, much con-
ducingtothis cure, and to thegenerall preservation of our health.
The heavens themselves run continually round; thesunriseth
and sets; the moon incteaseth and decreaseth ; stars andplanets
keep their constant motions ; the aire is still tossed by the winds;
tlie waters eb and flow, to their conservation no doubt, to teach
us that we should ever he in action . For which cause Hierom
presefibesBusticus the monk, that he be alwayes occupied about
some business or other, P that the devill do not finde him idle.
d Seneca would have a man do something, though it be to no
purpose. e Xenophon wisheth one rather to play at tables,
_ a iEgrotantes oves in alium locum transportahdae sunt, ut aliom aerem et aquam par-
ticipantes, coalescant et corroborentor. b Alia utilia ; sed ex mutatione aeris po-
tissimnm curatus. c Ne te daemon otiostim inveniat. d Praestat aliud agere
quam nihil. ’ e Lib. 3. de.dictis Socratis. Qui tesseris et risus excitando vacant,
aliquid faciunt, etsi liceret his meliora agere.
402
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
dice, or make a jester of himself (though he might be far
better imployed) than do nothing. aThe ^Egyptians of old, and
many flourishing commonwealths since, have enjoyned labour
and exercise to all sorts of men, to be of some vocation and
calling, and to give an account of their time, to prevent those
grievous mischiefs that come by idleness; for, as fodder, whip,
and burthen, belong to theasse,so meat, correction, and worke,
unto the servant, Ecclus. 33. 23. The Turks injoyn all men
whatsoever, of what degree, to be of some trade or other : the
grand Signior himself is not excused. b In our memory
(saith Sabellicus) Mahomet the TurJce, he that conquered
Greece, at that very time when he heard ambassadours of other
princes, did either carve or cut wooden spoones , or frame some¬
thing upon a table. c This present sultan makes notches for
bows. The Jews are most severe in this examination of time.
All wel-governed places, towns, families, and every discreet
person will be a law unto himself. But, amongst us, the badge
of gentry is idleness : to be of no calling, not to labour (for
that’s derogatory to their birth), to be a meer spectator, a drone,
fruges consumere natus, to have no necessary employment to
busie himself about in church and commonwealth (some few
governers excepted), but to rise to eat, fyc. to spend his
dayes in hawking, hunting, &c. and such like disports and re¬
creations (d which our casuists tax), are the sole exercise almost
and ordinary actions of our nobility, and in which they are
too immoderate. And thence it comes to pass, that in city and
country so many grievances of body and mind, and this ferall
disease of melancholy so frequently rageth,and now domineers
almost all over Europe amongst our great ones. They know
not how to spend their times (disports excepted, which are all
their business), what to do, or otherwise how to bestow
themselves ; like our modern Frenchmen, that had rather lose
a pound of blood in a single combate, than a drop of sweat in
any honest labour. Every man almost hath something or
other to employ himself about, some vocation, some trade: but
they do all by ministers and servants ; ad otia duntaxatse natos
existimant, imo ad sui ipsius plerumque et aliorum perniciem ,
e as one freely taxeth such kinde of men : they are all for pas¬
times; ’tis all their study; all their invention tends to this alone,
to drive away time, as if they were born, some of them, to no
other ends. Therefore to correct and avoid these errors and
a Amasis compelled every man once a year to tell how he lived. bNostra
memoria Mahometes Othomanus, qui Grasci® imperium subvertit, cum oratorum postu-
lata audiret exterarum gentium, cochleari lignea assidue cselabat, aut aliquid in tabula
affingebai. c Sands, fol. 37. of his voyage to Jerusalem. d Perkins cases,
of conscience, I. 3. c. ,4. q. 3. e Luscinus Grunnio.
Mem, 4.] Exercise rectified, 403
inconveniences, our divines, physicians, and politicians, so
much labour, and so seriously exhort : and for this disease in
particular, a there can be no better cure than continuall business,
as Rhasis holds, to have some employment or other, which
may set their minde dworhe, and distract their cogitations.
Riches may not easily be had without labour and industry, nor
learning without study; neither can our health be preserved
without bodily exercise. If it be of the body, Guianerius
allowes that exercise which is gentle, b and still after those
ordinary frications, which must be used every morning. Mon-
taltus (cap. 26) and Jason Pratensis use almost the same
words, highly commending exercise, if it be moderate : a
wonderful help, so used, Crato calls it, and a great means to
preserve our health, as adding strength to the whole body, in¬
creasing natur allheat, by means of which, the nutriment is well
concocted in the stomacke, liver, and veines, few or no cru¬
dities left, is happily distributed over all the body. Besides,
it expells excrements by sweat, and other insensible vapours;,
in so much that c Galen prefers exercise before all physick,
rectification of diet, or any regimen in what kinde soever; ’tis
Natures physician. dFulgentius (outof Gordonius, deconserv.
vit. horn. lib. 1. cap. 7) tearms exercise a spur of a dull sleepy
nature, the comforter of the members, cure of infirmity, death
of diseases , destruction of all mischief es and vices. The
fittest time for exercise is a little before dinner, a little before
supper, e or at any time when the body is empty. Montanas
{consil. 31) prescribes it every morning to his patient, and
that, as fCalenus addes , after he hath done his ordinary needs ,
rubbed his body, washed his hands and face, combed his head
and gar garized. What kinde of exercise he should use,
Galen tells us, lib. 2 el 3. de sanit . tuend. and in what measure,
« till the body be ready to sweat, and roused up, ad ruborem,
some say, non ad sudorem, lest it should dry the body too
much; others injoyn those wholesome businesses, as to dig so
long in his garden, to hold the plough, and the like. Some
prescribe frequent and violent labour and exercises, as sawing
a Non est cura melior quam injnngere iis necessaria, et opportuna ; opemm admini¬
strate illis magnum sanitatis incrementum, et quse repleant animos eorum, et incutiant
iis diversas cogitationes. Coni 1. Tract. 9. b Ante exercitium, leves toto corpore
fricationes convenient. Ad hunc morbum exercitationes, quum reete et sno tempore
fiunt, mirifice conducunt, et sanitatem tuentur, &c. c Lib. 1. de san. tuend.
d Exercitium naturae dormientis stimulate, membrorum solatium, morborum medela,
fuga vitiorum, medicina languorum, destructio omnium malornm. Crato. eAli-
mentis in ventriculo probe concoctis. _ fJejuno ventre, vesica et alvo ab
everementis purgato, fricatis membris, lotis manibus et oculis, &c. Lib- de atra
bile- S Quousque corpus universum intumescat, et floridam appareat,
sudoremque, &c.
404
Cure of Melancholy [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
every day, so long1 together* ( epid . 6. Hippocrates. confounds
them] but that is in some cases, to some peculiar men ; athe
most forbid, and will by no means have it go farther than a
beginning sweat, as being b perilous if it exceed.
Of these labours, exercises, and recreations, which are like¬
wise included, some properly belong to the body, some to the
mind, some more easie, some hard, sonie with delight, some
without, some within doors, some naturall, some are artificial!.
Amongstbodily exercises, Galen commends ludum parvce piles,
to play at ball : be it with the hand or racket, in tennis courts, or
otherwise, it exerciseth each part of the body, and doth much
good, sothatthey sweat not too much. It was in greatrequest
of old amongst the Greeks, Romanes, Barbarians, mentioned by
Homer, Herodotus, and Plinius. Some write, that Aganella, a
fair maide of Cor Cyra, was the in venter of it ; for she pre¬
sented the first ball that e ver was made, to Nausica, the daugh¬
ter of king Aleinoiis, and taught her how to use it.
The ordinary sports which are used abroad, are hawking,
hunting : hilares venandi labores, c one calls them, because
they recreate body and minde; another, e the best exercise
that is, by which alone many have been freed from allferall
diseases . Hegesippus (lib. 1. cap. 37) relates of Herod, that
he was eased of a grievous melancholy by that means. Plato
(7 de leg.) highly magnifies it, dividing it into three parts, by.
land, water, ayre. Xenophon (in Cyr opted.) graces it with a
great name, Deorum munus, the gift of the Gods, a princely
sport, which they have ever used ,saith Langius, (epist. 59. lib. 2)
as well for health as pleasure, and do at this day, it being the
sole almost and ordinary sport of our noblemen in Europe, and,
elsewhere all over the world. Bohemus (de mor. gent. lib. 3.
cap. 12.) stiles it therefore stadium nobilium; communiter
venantur, quod sibi solis licere contendunt ; ’tis all their study,
their exercise, Ordinary business, all their talk : and indeed
some dote too much after it ; they can do nothing- else, dis¬
course of naught else. Paulus Jovius ( descr . Brit.) doth in
some sort tax our & English nobility for it. for living in the
country so much, and too frequent use of it, as if they had no
other means but hawicing and hunting to approve themselves
gentlemen with.
a Omnino sudorem vitent. cap. 7. lib. 1. Yalescus de Tar. *> Exereitium si
excedat, valde pericnlosum. Sallust. Salvianus, de remed. lib. 2. cap. 1. c Camden
in Staffordshire. d Fridevallius* lib. 1. cap. 2. Optima omnium exercitationum :
multi ab hac solummodo morbis liberati. e Josephus Quercetanus, dial, polit.
sect. 2. cop. 11. Inter omnia exercitia prsestantiae laudem meretur. _ f Chiron in
monte Pelio, praeceptor heroum, eos a morbis animi venationibus etpuris cibis tnebatur.
M. Tyrins. S Nobllitas omnis fere urbes fastidit, castellis et liberiore
coelo gaudet, gerierisque dignitatem una maxime venatione et falconom anenpiis
tuetur.
405
Mem. 4.] Exercise rectified.
Hawking comes neer to hunting, the one in the aire, as
the other on the earth, a sport as much affected as the other, by
some preferred. a It was never heard of amongst the Romans,
invented some 1200 years since, and first mentioned by Fir-
micus, lib. 5. cap. 8. The Greek emperours began it, and
now nothing so frequent : he is nobody that in the season hath
not a hawke on his fist : a great art, and b many books written
of it. It is a wonder to hear c what is related of the Turkes
officers in this behalf, how many thousand men are employed
about it, how many hawks of all sorts, how much revenewes
consumed on that only disport, how much time is spent at
Adrianople alone every year to that purpose. The d Persian
kings hawk after butterflies with sparrows, made to that use,
and stares ; lesser hawks for lesser games they have, and
bigger for the rest, that they may produce their sport to all
seasons. The Muscovian emperours reclaime eagles to fly
at hindes, foxes, &c. and such a one was sent for a present to
e Queen Elizabeth : some reclaime ravens, castrils, pies, &c.
and man them for their pleasures.
Fowling is more troublesome, but all out as delightsome to
some sorts of men, be it with guns, lime, nets, glades, ginnes,
strings, baits, pitfalls, pipes, calls, stawking-horses, setting-
doggs, coy-df'cks, &c. or otherwise. Some much delight to
take larks with day-nets, small birds with chaffe-nets, plovers,
partridge, herons, snite, &c. Henry the third, king of Castile,
(as Mariana the Jesuite reports of him, lib. 3. cap. 7.) was
much affected fwith catching of quailes : and many gentlemen
take a singular pleasure at morning and evening to go abroad
with their quaile-pipes, and will take any paines to satisfie
their delight in that kinde. The s Italians nave gardens fitted
to such use, with nets, bushes, glades, sparing no cost or in¬
dustry, and are very much affected with the sport, Tycho
Brahe, that great astronomer, in the Chorography of his Isle
of Huena, and castle of Uraniburge, puts down his nets, and
manner of catching small birds as an ornament, and a recrea¬
tion, wherein he himself was sometimes employed.
Fishing is a kinde of hunting by water, be it with nets,
weeles, baits, angling or otherwise, and yeelds all out as much
pleasure to some men, as dogs, or hawks, h when they draw
a Jos. Scaliger, comment, in Cirin. fol. 344. Salmnth, 23 de Nov. repert com. in
PaDcir. _ bDemetrius Constantinop. de re accipitraria liber, a P. Gillar Latine
redditus. iElins. epist A qnilai, Symmacbi, et Tfieodotionis ad Ptolemaenm, &e.
c Lonicerns, Geffreus, Jovius. d S. Anthony Sherlies relations.
eHacluit. f Cotomicnm ancnpio. " Fines Morison, part. 3. c. 8.
hNon majorem voluptatem animo capinnt, qaam qni feras insectanfar, ant missis
canibas comprehendunt, qnam retia trahentes, squamosas pecndes in ripas ad-
ducunt
408
Cure of Melancholy. 1 [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
their fish upon the hank , saith Nic. HenseMns, Silesiographice
cap. 3, speaking of that extraordinary delight his countrymen
took in fishing, and in making of pooles. James Dubravius,
that Moravian, in his book de pise. telleth, how travelling by
the highway side in Silesia, he found a. nobleman a booted up
to the groines, wading himself, pulling the nets, and labour¬
ing as much as any fisherman of them all : and when some
belike objected to him the baseness of his office, he excused
himself, b that if other men might hunt hares , why should not
he hunt carpes? Many gentlemen in like sort, with us, will
wade up to the arm-holes, upon such occasions, and volun¬
tarily undertake that to satisfie their pleasure, which apoor man
for a good stipend would scarce be hired to undergo. Plutarch,
in his book de soler. animal, speaks against all fishing, cas a
filthy, base , illiberall imployment, having neither wit nor
perspicacity in it, nor worth the labour. But he that shall
consider the variety of baits, for all seasons, and pretty devices
which our anglers have invented, peculiar lines, false flies;
severall sleights, &c. will say, that it deserves like commen¬
dation, requires as much study and perspicacity as the rest,
and is to be preferred before many of them; because hawking
and hunting are very laborious, much riding, and many
dangers accompany them; but this is still and quiet : and if so
be the angler catch no fish, yet he hath a wholsome walk to the
brook side, pleasant shade, by the sweet silver streams; he
hath good aire, and sweet smels of fine fresh meadow flowers;
he hears the melodious harmony of birds ; he sees the swans,
herons, ducks, water-hens, cootes, &c. and many other
fowle, with their brood, which he thinketh better than the
noise of hounds, or blast of homes, and all the sport that they
can make.
Many other sports and recreations there be, much in use,
as ringing, bowling, shooting, which Askam commends in a
just volume, and hath in former times been injoyned by statute,
as a defensive exercise, and an d honour to our land, as well
may witness our victories in France ; keelpins, tronks, coits,
pitching bars, hurling, wrestling, leaping, running, fencing,
mustring, swimming, wasters, foiles, foot-balls, balown, quin¬
tans, &c. and many such, which are the common recreations of,
the country folks; riding of great horses, running at rings, tilts
and turnaments, horse-races, wilde-goose chases, which are the
a More piscatoram cmribus ocreatns _ b Si principibus venatio leporis non sit
inhonesta, n’escio quomodo-piscatio cyprinorum videri debeat pudenda. c Om-
nino turpis piscatio,nullo studio digna, illiberalis credita est,quod nullum habet ingeuium,
nullam perspicaciam. d Prsecipua hinc Anglis gloria, crebrae victoriae part®.
Mem. 4.] Exercise rectified. 407
disports ofgreater men, and good in themselves, though many
gentlemen, by that means, gallop quite out of their fortunes.
But the most pleasant of all outward pastimes is that of
a Aretajus, deambulatio per amcena loca, to make a petty
progress, a merry journey now and then with some good com¬
panions, to visit friends, see cities, castles, towns,
6Visere ssepe amnes nitidos, peramoenaque Tempe,
Et placidas summis seetari in montibus auras :
To see the pleasant fields, the crystal! fountains.
And take the gentle aire amongst the mountains :
cto walk amongst orchards, gardens, bowers, mounts, and ar¬
bours, artificial! wildernesses, green thiekets, arches, groves,
lawns, rivulets, fountains and such like pleasant places, like
that Antiochian Daphne, brooks, pooles, fish-ponds, betwixt
wood and water, in a fair meadow, by a river side, Aubi varies
avium cdntationes , fiorum colores , pratorum Jr ut ices, $c.
to disport ih some pleasant plain, park, run up a steep hill
sometimes, or sit in a shady seat, must needs be a delectable
recreation. Hortus principis et domus ad, deleciationem facta,
cum sylva, monte , et piscina , vulgo La Montagna: the princes
garden at Ferrara, e SchotfUs highly magnifies, with the groves,
mountains, ponds, for a delectable prospect: he was much af¬
fected with it : a Persian paradise, or pleasant parke, could not
be more delectable in his sight, S. Bernard, in the description
of his monastery, is almost ravished with the pleasures of it.
A sick iman (saith he) sits upon a green bank; and, when the
dog-star pareheth the plaines, and dries up rivers , he liei in a
sJtadie bowre,
Fronde sub arboreS. ferventia temperat astra,
and feeds his eyes with variety of objects, hearbs, trees: and to
comfort his misery, he receives many delightsome smels, an&
fiU his ears Wiith that sweet and various harmony of birdes.
Good God! (saith he) what a company Of pleasures hast
thou made for man ! He that should be admitted on a sud¬
den to the sight of such a palace as that of Escuriall in Spain,
or to that which the Moores built in Granado, ,Fountenhlewe
in France, the Imrkes gardens in his seraglio, wherein all
manner of birds and beasts are kept for pleasure, wolves,
hears, lynces, tygers, lyons, elephants, &c, or upon the
* Cap. 7. i b Fracastorins. « Arnbnlationes subdiales, quas hortenses at<ras
ministrant, snB fornice viridi, pampinis' virebtibas concarnerata. _ ^THeo-
pbyolati e Itiuerar. ItaL t Sedet aegrbtns csespitii viridi ; et cam incfeihgntia
canicularis terras excoqnit, et siccat flumina, ipse secdrus sedet sab arborea froncfej et,'
id doToris siii solatimii, naribus snis gramineasredolet species; pascit ocukw herbatntn’
amoena viriditas ; antes snavi modu'lamine detnrilcet' pictarnni conceiitos a Vitim, &c.
Dens bone ! quanta pauperibus pro cnras solatia !
VOL. I.
M M
408 Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
banks of that Thracian Bosphorus : the popes Belvedere in
Rome aas pleasing as those horti pensiles in Babylon, or that
Indian kings delightsome gardens in biElian ; or cthose famous
gardens of the Lord Cantelow in France, could not choose,
though he were never so ill apaid, but be much recreated for
the time ; or many of our noblemens gardens at home. To
take a boat in a pleasant evening, and with musick. d to row
upon the waters, which Plutarch so much applaudes, JSIian
admires, upon theriver Peneus,in those Thessalian fields beset
•with green bayes, where birdsso sweetly sing, that passengers,
enchanted as it were with their heavenly musick, omnium la-
horiim et curarum ohliviscantur, forget forthwith all labours,
care, and grief; or in a gundilo through the grande canale in
Venice, to see those goodly palaces, must needs refresh and
give content to a melancholy dull spirit. Or to see {the inner
roomes of a fair-built and sumptuous aedifice, as that of the
Persian kings so much renowned by Diodorus and Curtius,in
which all was almost beaten gold, *chaires, stooles, thrones,
tabernacles, and pillars of gold, plane trees, and vines of gold,
grapes of precious stones, all the other ornaments ofpure gold,
(f F ulget gemma toris, et iaspide fulva supellex ;
Strata micant Tyrio— — )
with sweet odours and perfumes, generous wines, opiparous
fare, &c. besides the gallantest young men, the fairest g vir¬
gins, puellce scitulce ministrantes, the rarest beauties the world
could afford, and those set out with costly and curious attires,
ad stuporem usque spectantium , with exquisite musick, as in
bTrimalchions house, in every chamber, sweet voices ever
sounding day and night, incompqrabilis /uxu's, all delights
and pleasures in each kinde which to please the senses could
possibly be devised or had, convince coronati, deliciis ehrii,
$-c. Telemachus in Homer is brought in as one ravished al¬
most, at the sight of that magnificent palace, and rich furniture
of Menelaus, when he beheld
iiEris fulgorem, et resonantia tecta corusco .
Auro, atque electro nitido, sectoque elephanto,
• Argentoque simul. Tabs Jovis ardua sedes,
Aulaque Coelicoidm siellans splendesclt dympo..
a Died. Siculus, lib. 2. b lab. 13. de .animal, cap. 13. -cPet. Giliius.
Paul. Hentzerus, Itinerar. Italise, 1617. Jod. .Sir,renTs, Iunerar. Gallise, 1617. Simp,
lib. l.quasst.4.^ d Jucnndissima deambulatio juxta mare, et navigatio prope
terram.— In utraque fluminis ripa. * Aurer panes, aurea opsonia, vis mar-
garitarum aceto sabacta, Src. . -f Lucan. e 300 pelljces, pocillatores, et
princernae innumeri, pueri loti purpura induti, &c. ex omnium puichntudme delecti.
b Ubi omnia cantu strepuat. ' i Odyss. 8.
Mem. 4.]
Exercise rectified.
409
Such glittering of gold and brightest brass to shine,
Cleer amber, silver pure, and ivory so fine :
Jupiters lofty palace where the gods do dwell.
Was even such a one, and did not excell.
It will laxare animos, refresh the soule of man, to see fair-
built cities; streets, theaters, temples, obelisks, &c. The tem¬
ple of Jerusalem was so fairly built of white marble, with so
many pyramids covered with gold ; tectumque templi, fulvo
coruscans auro, nimio suo Julgore obccecabat oculos itineran-
tium, was so glorious and so glistered afar off, that the spec¬
tators might not well abide the sight of it. But the inner
parts were all so curiously set out with cedar, gold, jewels,
&c. (as he said of Cleo'patras palace in Egypt,
— — ■* Crassumque trabes absconderat aurum)
that the beholders were amazed. What sopleasant as to see
some pageant or sight go by, as at coronations, w eddings, aud
such like solemnities; — to see an embassadour or a prince met,
received, entertained with masks, shewe, fireworks, &c. — to
see two kings fight in single combat, as Purus and Alexander,
Canutus and Edmond Ironside, Scanderbeg and Ferat Bassa
the Tarke, when not honour alone but life it self is at stake,
(as the b poet of Hector,
- — - - -nec enim pro tergore tauri,
Pro bove nec certamen erat, quae praemia cursfts
Esse solent, sed pro magni vitaque animaque
Hectoris) — •
to behold a battle fought, like that of Crescy, or Agencourt, or
Poictiers, qua nescio, (saith Froissard) an vetustas ullam pro-
ferre possit clariorem ; — to see one of Caesars triumphs in old
Rome revived, or the like;— to bee present at an interview,
c as that famous of Henry the 8th, and Francis the first, so
much renowned all over Europe ; ubi tanto apparatu (saith
Hubei'tius Yellius) t unique triumphali pompa ambo reges cum.
eorum conjugibus coi&re, ut nulla unquam cetas tarn celebria
festa viderit aut audierit, no age ever saw the like* So in¬
finitely pleasant are such shews, to the sight of which often
times they will come hunredths of miles, give anymony for
a place, and remember many years after w ith singular delight.
Bodine,when he was embassadour in England, said he saw the
nobleman go in their robes to the parliament house, summa
cum jucunditate vidimus ; he was much affected with the
sight of it. Pomponius Columna, saith Jovius in his life, saw
» .Lucan. 1. 8. b Iliad. 10. “-Betwixt Ardes and Guines, 1519.
mm2
410
Cure of Melancholy.
[Part* 2. See. 2.
13 Frenchmen, and so many Italians, once fight for a whole
army : quod jucundissinwm speclaeulmn in vita dicit sud, the
Eleasantest sight that ever he saw in his life. Who would not
ave been affected with such a spectacle ? Or that single com¬
bat of aBreaute the Frenchman, and Anthony Schets a Dutch¬
man, before the walls of Sylvaducis in Brabant* anno 1600.
They were 22 horse on the one side, as many on the other,
which, like Livies Horatii, Torquati, and Corvini, fought for
their own glory and countries honour, in the sight and view of
their whole city and army. bWhen Julius Caesar warred
about the bankes of Rhene, there came a barbarian prince
to see him and the Roman army ; and when he had beheld
Caesar a good while, CI see the gods now (saith he) which be¬
fore I heard of nec feliciorem ullarn vitae meae autoptavi aut
sensi diem : it was the happiest day that ever he had in h is 1 ife.
Such a sight alone were, able of it self to drive away melan¬
choly; if not for ever, yet it must needs expel! it for a time.
Radzivifius was much taken with the bassas palace in Cairo;
and, amongst many other objects which that place afforded,
with that solemnity of cutting the bankes of Nil us, by Im-
bram Basse, when it overflowed, besides two or three hundred
Siilded gailies on the water, he saw two millions of men ga-
ered together on the land, with turbants as white as snow;
and twas a goodly sight. The very reading of feasts, triumphs,
interviews, nuptials, tilts, turn aments, combats, and mono-
machies, is most acceptable and pleasant. dFranciscus Modius
hath made a large collection of such solemnities, in two great
tomes, which who so will may peruse. The inspection alone
of those curious iconographies of temples and palaces, as that
of the Lateran church in Albert u-s Durer, that of the temple of
Jerusalem in eJosephus, Adricomius, and Villalpandus : that
of the Eseuriall in Guadas, of Diana at Ephesus in Pliny,
Neros golden palace in Rome, fJustinians in Constantinople,
that Peruvian Ingos in g Cusco, ut non ah hominihus, sed a
dcemoniis, constructum videatur ; S. Marks in Venice by
Ignatius, with many such : priscorum artifcum opera (saith
that h interpreter of Pausanias) the rare workmanship of those,
ancient Greeks, in theaters,, obelisks, temples, statues, gold,
silver, ivory, marble images, non minor e ferme, quurn tegun -
tur , quam quum cernuntur, animum delectatione complent,
affect one as much by reading almost, as by sight.
a Senertius, in deiiciis, fol. 487. Veteri Horafiorum. eiemplo, virtute et successu ad-
mirabili, cassis hostibas 17 in conspectn patrise, &c. *> Paterculus, vol. post.
« Quos antea audivi, inqpit, hodie vidi Deos. i Pandectae Triumph. foL
e Lib. 6. cap. 14. de belle Jud. f Procopius. % Laet. lib. 10. Amer.
descript. fcRomulus Amaseus, prssfat. Pausan. &
Mem. 4.]
411
Exercise rectified.
The country hath his recreations, the city his several gym-
nicks and exercises, may-games, feasts, wakes, and merry meet¬
ings, to solace themselves. The very being in the country, that
life it self, is a sufficient recreation to some men, to enjoy such
pleasures, as those old patriarks did. Dioclesianthe emperour
was so much affected with it, that he gave over his scepter, and
turned gardiner. Constantine wrote 20 books of husbandry.
Lysander, when embassadours came to see him, bragged of
nothing more, than of his orchard : hi sunt ordines mei. What
shall 1 say of Cincinnatus, Cato,Tully, and many such ? how
have they been pleased with it, to prune, plant, inoculate, and
graft, to shew so many severall kindes of pears, apples, plums,
peaches, &c.
aNune captare feras laqueo, nunc fallere visco,
Atque etiam magnos canibus circumdare- saltus,
Insidias avibus moliri, incendere vepres.
Sometimes with traps deceive, with line and string
To catch wild birds and beasts; encompassing
The grove with dogs, and out of bushes firing.
- - ,et nidos avium scrutari, &c.
Jucundus, in his preface to Cato, Varro, Columella, &c. put out
by him, eqnfesseth of himself, that he was mightily delighted
with these husbandry studies, and took extraordinary pleasure
in them. If the theorick or speculation can so much affect,
what shall the place and exercise itself, the practick part, do?
The same confession I find in Herbastein, Porta, Camerarius,
and many others, which have written of that subject. If my
testimony were ought worth, I could say as much of myself ;
I am vere Saturninus ; no man ever took more delight in
springs, woods, groves, gardens, walks, fishponds, rivers, &c.
But
Tantalus a labris sitiens fugientia captat
Flumina ;
and so do I : velle licet ; potiri non licet.
Every palace, every city almost hath his peculiar walkes,
cloysters, tarraces, groves, theaters, pageants, games, and seve¬
rall recreations; every country, some professed gymnicks, to
exhilarate their minds, and exercise their bodyes. The bGreeks
had their Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian, Nemean games, in ho¬
nour of Neptune, Jupiter, Apollo; Athens, hers; some for ho¬
nour, garlands, crowns; for c beauty, dancing, running,Ieaping,
sVirg, I. Geor.
b Boterus, lib. 3. polit, cap. 1 . / See Atherseos, dipnoso.
412
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. See. 2
like our silver games. The a Romanes had their feasts (as the
Athenians and Lacedaemonians held their publike banquets in.
Prytaneo, Panathenceis, Thesmophoriis, PJiiditiis ), playes,
naumaehies, places for sea-fights, b theaters, amphitheaters
able to contain 70000 men, wherein they had several delight¬
some shews to exhilarate the people; cgladiators, combats of
men with themselves, with wild beasts, and wild beasts one
with another, like our bull-baitings, or bear-baitings (in which
many country-men and citizens amongst us so much delight
and so frequently use), dancers on ropes, jjuglers, wrestlers,
comedies, tragedies, publikely exhibited at tlieemperours and
cities charge, and that with incredible cost and magnificence.
In the Low-countries, (as dMeteran relates) before these wars,
they bad many solemn feasts, playes, challenges, artillery
gardens, colleges of rimers, rhetoricians, poets: and to this
ay, such places are curiously maintained in Amsterdam, as
appears by that description of Isaacus Pontanus, rerum Am -
stelrod. lib. 2. cap. 25. So likewise not long since at Friburg
in Germany, as is evident by that relation of eNeander, they
had ludos septennales, solemn playes every seven years, which
Boeerus one of their own poets hath elegantly described :
At nunc magnifico spectacula slructa paratu
Quid mernoretn, veteri non concessura Quirino
Ludorum pompa, &c.
In Italy they have solemn declamations of certain select young
gentlemen in Florence (like those reciters in old Pome), and
publike theaters in. most of their cities for stage-players and
others, to exercise and recreate themselves. All seasons al¬
most, all places, have their several! pastimes ; some in som-
mer, some in winter; some abroad, some within ; some of
the body, some of the minde; and divers men have divers re¬
creations, and exercises. Domitian the emperour was much
delighted with catching dies; Augustus to play with nuts
amongst children; f Alexander Severus was often pleased to
play with whelps and young pigs, s Adrian was so wholly ena¬
moured with dogs and horses, that he bestowed monuments
and tombes on them, and buried them in graves. In fowle
a LTidi votivi, saeri, ludicri, Magalenses, Cereales, Florales, Martiales, &c. Rosi-
nus, 5. 12. b See Lipsius, Amphitheatrum. Rpsinus, lib. 5. Menrsins de
ludis Grsecorum. e 1500 men at once, tigers, lions, elephants, horses, dogs,
beares, &c. d Lib. nit. et 1. 1. ad finem; Consuetudine non minus landabili,
quam yeteri, contubemia rhetorum, rhythmicornm in urbibus et municipiis; certisqne
diebus exercebant se sagittarii, gladiatores, &c. Alia ingenii, animiqne exercitia, quo¬
rum praacipuum studium, principem populum-tragoedijs, comoediis, fabulis scenicis,
aiiisqne id genus ludis recreare. e Orbis terras descript, part. 3. f Lam-
pridius, S Spartian,
413
Mem. 4.] Exercise rectified.
■weather, or when they can use no other convenient sports, by
reason of the time, as we do cock-fighting- to avoide idleness
1 think, (though some be more seriously taken with it, spend
much time, cost and charges, and are too solicitous about it.)
a Severus used partridges and quailes, as many Frenchmen
do still, and to keep birds in cages, with which he was much
pleased, when at any time he had leasure from publike cares
and businesses. He had (saith Lampridius) tame pheasants,
ducks, partridges, peacocks, and some 20000 ringdoves and
pigeons. Busbequius, the emperours orator, when he lay in
Constantinople, and could not stir much abroad, kept for his
recreation, busying himself to see them fed, almost all manner
of strange birds and beasts; this was something, though not to
exercise his body, yet to refresh his minde. Conradus Gesner,
at Zurick in Switzerland, kept so likewise for his pleasure a
great company of wilde beasts, and (as he saith) took great de¬
light to, see them eat their meat. Turkie gentlewomen, that
are perpetuall prisoners, still mewed up according to the cus-
tome of the place, have little else besides their houshold busi¬
ness, or to play with their children, to drive away time, but to
dally with their cats, which they have in deliciis, as many of
bur ladies and gentlewomen use monkies and little doggs.
The ordinary recreations which we have in winter, and in
most solitary times busie our minds with, are cardes, tables
and dice, shovelboard, chesse-play, the philosophers game,
small trunks, shuttle-cock, billiards, musick, masks, sing¬
ing, dancing, ulegames, frolicks, jests, riddles, catches, pur¬
poses, questions and commands, b merry tales of errant knights,
queens, lovers, lords, ladies, giants, dwarfes, theeves, cheaters,
witches, fayries, goblins, friers, &c. such as the old women
told Psyche in cApuleius, Bocace novels, and the rest,
quorum auditione pueri delectantur, senes narrations, 'which
some delight to hear, some to tell ; all are well pleased with.
Amaranthus the philosopher met Hermocles, Diophantus, and
Philolaus, his companions, one day busily discoursing about
Epicurus and Democritus tenents, very solicitous which was
most probable and came nearest to truth. To put them
out of that surly controversie, and to refresh their spirits,
he told them a pleasant tale of Stratoeles the physicians
wedding, and of all the particulars, the company, the chear,
the musick, &c. for he was new come from it ; with which
relation they were so much delighted, that Philolaus wished
=> TJelectatns lasu catnloram, poreellorom, nt perdices inter se pugtiarent, aut ot a ves
parvuke sursum et deorsain vo'ntarent, hismaxime delectatns, ut solicit! d nes publics*
•ubleraret. bBrmnales lsete at possint producers noetes. « Miles- 4.
414 Cure of Melancholy. [Part, §. See. 2.
a blessing to his heart, and many a good wedding, ? many
such merry meetings might be be at, to please himself with
the sight, and others with fke narration of it- Newes are
generally welcome to all our ears : avide audimus ; auras
enirn hominum novitate luevantur (>*as Pliny observes), we
long after rumour, to hear and listen to it ; cden$um humeris
bihit aure vulgus. We are most part too inquisition and apt
to hearken after newes; which Caesar in his ^Commentaries
observes of the old Gaules; they would be enquiring of every
carrier and passenger, what they had heard or seen, what
newes abroad?
..r_. quid toto fiat in orbe,
Quid Seres, quid Thraces ag-ant, secrete novercsp,
Et pueri, quis araet, &c.
at an ordinary with us, bakehouse, or barbers shop. When
that great Gonsalva Was upon some displeasure confined by
king Ferdinand to the pity of Loxa in Andalusia, the onely
comfort (saith e Jovius) he had to ease his melancholy thoughts,
was to hear new-es, and to listen after those ordinary occur-
rents, which were brought him, cum primis, by letters or
otherwise out or the remotest part of Europe. Some mens
whole delight is to take tobacco, and drink all day long in a
tavern or alehouse, to discourse, sing, jest, roare, talk of a
cock and bull over a pot, &c. or, when three or four good
companions meet, tell old stories by the fire side, or in the
sun, as old f'olkes usually do, cpice aprici memin$re senes, re-
membring afxesh and with pleasure ancient matters, and such
like accidents, which happened in their yojanger yeares,
Others best pastime is to game: nothing to them so pleasant.
f Hie Veneri indulget, hunc decoquit alea.— —
Many too nicely take exceptions at cardes, s tables, and dice,
and such mixt lusorious lots [whom Gataker well confutes),
which, though they be honest recreations in themselves, yet
may justly he otherwise excepted at, as they are often, abused,
and forbidden as things most pernicious; insemam rem et
ddmnosam, tenant us calls it: for, most part, in these hmd of
»ODii! sirnilibns ssepe convivijs date qt ipse videndo deloctetijr, et poshpo/Jara narr
rando de'ectet. Theod. proaromus Amoram, dial, interpret. G-ilberto Ganlinio.
bEpist. lib. 8. Ruffino. cHor. d Lib. 4. Gallic* con suet udinis est, nt
viatores etiam invitos consistere cogant, et quid qaisqae eornm de quaque re audierit
ant cognorit, qnasrant. e Vit® ejus, lib. uit. f Jnven. sThey ac-
eoant them nnlawfvl, bscanse sortikgjoqs. ft lagtit. c. 44. Ib Jijs lndjs:pie-
nuqqqe nen #s ant peritia vjget, aqd .fraiis, fallacja, dplup, agtatia, easns, fhrtusaitg,
mentis, toeup} habent. non ratio, consilicm. sapjentia, &c.
Me m- 4]
Exercise rectified.
415
disport s, *i£s not art or skill, but subtilty , cunny catching,
knavery, chance and fortune, carries all away : ’tis ambula*
toria peeunia,
— : - - - puncto tnobilis horse
Permutat dominos, et cedit in altera jura.
They labour, most part, notto pass their time in honest disport,
but for filthy lucre, and covetousness of money. InfcedissL
mum lucrum et avaritiam hominum convex titur, as Dane us
observes. Eons fraudum et maleficiorum, ’tis the fountain of
cosen age and villany : % a thing so common all over Europe
at this day , and so generally abused, that many men are
utterly undone by it, their means spent, patrimonies consum¬
ed, they and their posterity beggered; besides swearing,
•wrangling, drinking, loss of time, and such inconveniences,
which are ordinary concomitants ; hfar, when once they have
got a haunt of such companies, and habit of gaming , they can
hardly be drawn from it; but as an itch, it will tickle them;
qncl, as it is with whoremasters, once entered , they cannot easily
leave it off; vexat mentes imana cupido, they are mad upon
their sport. And in conclusion (which Charles the Seventh,
that good French king, published in an edict against game¬
sters) unde pipe et hilaris vitce suffugium sibi suisque liber is,
totique familice, S;c. that which was once their livelihood,
should have maintained wife, children, family, is now spent
and gone ; mceror et cegestas , &c. sorrow and beggary suc¬
ceeds. So good things may be abused ; and that which was
invented to c refresh mens weary spirits when they come from
other labours and studies, to exhilarate the minde, to enter¬
tain time and company, tedious otherwise in those long soli¬
tary winter nights, and keep them from worse matters, an
honest exercise, is eontrarily perverted.
Chesse-play is a good and witty exercise of the mind, for
some kinde of men, and fit for such melancholy (Rhasis holds)
as are idle, and have extravagant impertinent thoughts, or trou¬
bled with cares ; nothing better to distract their mind, and
alter their meditations ; invented (some say) by the d generall
of an army in a famine, to keep souldiers from mutiny : but
a. AbpsHS tam freqnecs hodie in Europa, ut pler-Ique crebro harum asp patriiBoniam
prorpna^nt, exbaustisqsie facpUatibos, ad inopiara redigentnr. b Ubi semel
prurigo ista animum pccup’at, aggre discuti potest ; solicitantibns unci.iqne ejusdem fa¬
ring hominibus, damnosas iilas voluptates repetunt: quodet scortatoribns insitum, &c.
r Instituitur ista exercitatio, ppn lucri, sod valetudinis et ohlectaraepti ratione, et quo
animus defatigatas respiret, novasque vires ad snbetmdos labores denno concipiat.
dLatrunculorum Indus inventus est a duce, ut, cum miles intolerabili fame laboraret,
altero die edens, altero ludens, famis oblivisceretur. Bellonius. See mere of this
game in Daniel Souters Fa!amedes; vel de variis ludis, 1. 3.
415
Curs of Melancholy . [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
if it proceed from over much study, in such a case it may do
more harm than good ; it is a game too troublesome for some
mens braines, too full of anxiety, all out as bad as study ; be¬
sides, it is a testy cholerick game, and very offensive to him
that loseth the mate. a William the Conqueror, in his younger
yeares, playing at chesse with theprince ofFrance, (Dauphine
was not annexed to that crown in those dayes) losing a mate,
knocked the chesse-board about his pate, which was a cause
afterward of much enmity betwixt them. For soine such rea¬
son it isjbelike, that Patritius (in his 3. book,-' Tit, dereg.
instit.) forbids his prince to play at chesse: hawking and hunt¬
ing, riding, &c. he will allow and this to other men, but by
no means to him. In Muscovy, where they live in stoves and
hot houses all winter long, come seldome or little abroad, it is
again very necessary, and therefore in those parts (saith bHer-
bastein) much used. At Fessa in Africk, where the like in¬
convenience of keeping within doors is through heat, it is
very laudable ; and (as cLeo Afer relates) as much frequent¬
ed : a sport fit for idle gentlemen, souldiers in garrison, and
courtiers that have nought but love matters to busie them¬
selves about, but not altogether so convenient for such as are
students. The like I may say of 01. Bruxers philosophy
game, D. Fulkes Metromachia and his Ouranomachia , with
the rest of those intricate astrological! and geometricall fic¬
tions, for such especially as are mathematically given ; and
the rest of those curious games.
r. Dancing, singing, masking, mumming, stage-plaies, how¬
soever they be heavily censured by some severe Catoes, yet, if
opportunely and soberly used, mayjustly be approved. Melius
estfodere , quam saltare, saith Austin; but what is that, if
they delight in it? d Nemo saltat sobrius. But in what kinde
of dance? I know these sports have many oppugners, whole
volumes writ against them ; when as all they say (if duly con¬
sidered) is but ignoratio elencki; and some again, because
they are now cold and wayward, past themselves, eavel at all
such youthfull sports in others, as be did in the comedy ; they
think them, illico nasci senes, $rc. Some, out of prsepostefous
zeal, objectmanytimestriviall arguments, and, because of some
abuse, will quite take away the good use, as if they should
forbid wine, because it makes men drunk ; but, in my judge¬
ment, they are too stern : there is a time for all things, a
time to mourne, a time to dance (Eccles. 3. 4) ; a time to
embrace, a time not to embrace (vers. 5); and nothing better
than that a man should rejoy ce in his own works (vers. 22)
> a D. Hayward, in vita ejns. *>Muscovit. comnientarium. 'Intercive*
Fessanas latrunculorum Indus est usitatissimus. lib. 3. de Africa. d Tullius.
Mem. 4.]
417
Exercise rectified.
For my part, I will subscribe to the kings declaration, and
was ever of that mind, those May-games, wakes, and Whit-
sonales, &c if they be not at unseasonable hours, may justly
be permitted. Let them freely feast, sing, and dance, have their
poppet-playes, hobby-horses, tabers, crouds, bag-pipes, &c.
play at ball, and barley-breaks, and what sports and recrea¬
tions they like best. In Franconia, a province of Germany,
(saitha Aubanus Bohemus) the old folks, after evening prayer,
went to the ale-house, the younger sort to dance : and, to say
truth withbSarisburiensis, satiusfuerat sic otiari, quamturpius
qccupari, better do so than worse, as without question other¬
wise (such is the corruption of mans nature) many of them
will do. For that cause, playes, masks, jesters, gladiators,
tumblers,) uglers, &c. and all that crew is admitted and winked
at: ctota jpcularium scenaprocedit, et ideo spectacula admissa
sunt, et infinita tyrocinia vanitatum,ut his occupentur, quiper-
niciosius otiari so lent : that they might be busied about such
toyes, that would otherwise more perniciously be idle. So that,
as dTacitus said of the astrologers in Rome, we may say of
them, genus hominum est, quod in civitate nostra et vitabitur
semper et retinebitur ; they are a deboshed company, most
part, still spoken against, as well they deserve some of them,
(for I so relish and distinguish them as fidlers, and musicians)
and yet ever retained. Evil is not to be done (I confess). that
good may come of it: but this is evil per accidens, and, in a
qualified sense, to avoid a greater inconvenience, may justly be
tolerated, SrThomas Moore, in his Utopian Commonwealth,
e as he will have none idle , so will he have no man labour over
hard, to be toiled out like an horse: ’tis more than slavish
infelicity, the life of most of our hired servants, and tradesmen
elsewhere (excepting his Utopians) : but half the day alottedfor
work, and half for honest recreation , or whatsoever imployment
they shall think Jit themselves. If one half-day in a week were
allowed to our koushold servants for their merry meetings, by
their hard masters, or in a year some feasts, like those Roman
Saturnals,I think they would labour harder all the rest of their
time, and both parties be better pleased : but this needs not
(you will say) ; for some of them do nought but loyter all the
week long.
This, which I aim at, is for such as are fracti animis ,
troubled in mind, to ease them, over-toiled on the one part,
aDe mur. gent. b Poly era t 1. 1. cap. 8. cIdem Sarisburiensis. d Hist,
lib 1. eNeiuo desidet oiiosus; ita nemo asinino more ad seram noctem laborat;
nam ea plnsquam servilis serumna, quaa opificnm vita est, exceptis Utopiensibns, qut
diem in 24 boras dividunt, 12 duntaxat operi deputant, reliquam somno. et cibo c-u-
jusque aibitrio perinittitur. . ' ,
418
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
to refresli : over idle on the other, to keep themselves busied.
And to this purpose, as any labour or employment will serve
to the one, any honest recreation will conduce to the other, so
that it be moderate and sparing, as the use of meat and drink;
not to spend all their life in gaming, playing, and pastimes, as
too many gentlemen do; buttorevive our bodies.and recreate
our souls with honest sports : of which as there be divers sorts,
and peculiar to several! callings,' ages, sexes, conditions, so
there be proper for several seasons, and those of distinct na¬
tures, to fit that variety of humors which is amongst them, that
If one will not, another may ; some in summer, some in winter,
some gentle, some more violent, some for the mind alone,
some for the body and mind: (as, to some, it is both business
and a pleasant recreation to oversee workmen of all sorts,
husbandry, cattle, horse, &c. to build, plot, project, to make
models, cast up accompts, &e.) some without, some within
doors: new, old, Sic. as the season serveth, and as men are
inclined. It is reported of Phillippus Bon us, that good duke of
Burgundy, (by Lodovicus Vives, in Episf. and Pont. * Heuter
in his history) that the said duke, at the marriage of Eleonora,
sister to the king of Portugal, at Bruges in Flanders, which
was solemnized in the deep of winter, when as by reason of
unseasonable weather he could neither hawk nor hunt, and
was now tired with cards, dice, &c. and such other domestical
sports, or to see ladies dance, with some of his courtiers, he
would in the evening walk disguised all about the town. It so
fortuned as he was walking late one night, he found a country
fellow dead drunk, snorting on a bulk : bhe caused his fol¬
lowers to bring him to his palace, and there stripping him of
his old cloaths, and attiring him after the court fashion, when
he waked, he and they were all ready to attend upon his ex¬
cellency, perswading him he was some great duke. The poor
fellow, admiring how he came there, was served in state ail
the day long ; after supper he saw them dance, heard musick,
and the rest of those court-like pleasures: but late at night,
when he was well tipled, and again fast asleep, they put on his
old robes, and so conveighed him to the place where they first
found him. Now the fellow had not made them so good sport
the day before, as he did when he returned to himself; all the
jest was, to see how he clooked upon if. In conclusion, after
some little admiration, the poor man told his friends he had
seen a vision, constantly believed it, would not otherwise be
* Rerum Burgund. lib. 4. *> Jussit hominem deferri ad palatium, et Iecto ducal1
cojloeari, &c. Mirari homo, ubi se eo loci videt. 0 Quid interest, iuquit Lodo-
viens Vives, (epist. ad Francisc. Barducem) inter diem illius et nostros aliquot annos ?
nihil penitus, nisi quod, &c.
Mem. 4J]
Exercise rectified. 41 9
perswaded; and so the jest ended. ‘Antiochus Epiphanes
would often disguise himself, steal from bis court, and go into
merchants, goldsmiths, and other tradesmens shops, sit and
talk with them, and sometimes ride, or walke alone, and fall
aboord with any tinker, clowne, serving man, carrier, or whom¬
soever he met first. Sometimes he did ex insperato give a
poor fellow money, to see how he would look, or on set pur¬
pose lose his purse as be went, to watch who found it, and
withal! how he would be affected ; and with such objects he
was much delighted. Many such tricks are ordinarily put in
practice by great men, to exhilarate themselves and others;
all which are harmless jests, and have their good uses.
But, amongst those exercises, or recreations of the minde
within doors, there is none sogenerall, so aptly to be applyed
to all sorts of men, so fit and proper to expel! idleness and me¬
lancholy, as that of study. Studio, senectutem oblectunt, ado~
lescentiam ahmt , secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium et
solatium prcebent , domi delectant, fyc. find the rest in Tully
pro Archid Poeta. What so full of content, as to read, walke,
and see, mappes, pictures, statues, jewels, marbles, which some
so much magnifie, as those that Phidias made of old, so exqui¬
site and pleasing to be beheld, that (asb Chrysostome thinkethj
if any mam be sickly , troubled in mmde, or that cannot sleep
for grief e, and shall but stand over against one of Phidias
images, lie will forget all core, or whatsoever else may molest
him, in an instant ? There be those as much taken with
Michael Angelos, Raphael d’Urbinos, Francesco Francias
pieces, and many of those Italian and Dutch painters, which
were excellent in their ages ; and esteem of it as a most
pleasing sight, to view those neat architectures, devices,
scutchions, coats of armes, read such bookes, to peruse old
coynes of several! sorts in a fair gallery ; artificial! works, per¬
spective glasses, old r cliques, Roman antiquities, variety of
colours. A good picture is falsa verifas, et muta poesis ;
and though (as cYives saitb) artificialia delectant, sed mox
fastidimus , artifieiail toyes please but for a time; yet who is
he that will not be moved with them for the present % When
Achilles wa& tormented and sad for the loss of his dear friend
Patrocl os, his mother Thetis brought him a mostelaborate and
curious buckler made by Vulean, in which wereengraven sun,
moon, stars, planets, sea, land, men fighting, running, riding,
women scolding*, hils, dales, to wns,castles, brooks, rivers, trees.
aHen. Stephan, praifat Herodoti. bOrat. 12. Siqnisanimo fuerit afflictas
ant ffiger, nec somnum admittens, is mihi ride tar, e regione stans talis imaginis, obli-
visei omnium posse, qBSs lmmance vitas atrocia et diffieHia aecidere solent. c3. Ete
anitna.
420
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
&c. with many pretty jandskips, and perspective pieces; with
sight of which he was infinitely delighted, and much eased
of his grief.
a Continuo eo spectaculo captus, delenito moerore,
Oblectabatur, in manibus tenens Dei spieudida dcma.
Who will not be affected so in like case, or to see those wel-
furnished cloisters and galleries of those Roman cardinals, so
richly stored with all modern pictures, old statues and anti¬
quities? Cum se spectando recreet simul et leyendo , to see
their pictures alone, and read the description, as bBoissardiis
well addes, whom will it not affect ? whichBoziys, Pomponius
Lsetus, Marlianus, Schottus, Cavelerius, Ligorius, &c. and he
himself hath well performed of late. Or in some princes
cabinets, like that of the great dukes in Florence, of Felix
Platerus in Brasil, or noblemens houses, to see such variety
of attires, faces, so many,.so rare, and such exquisite peeces,
of men; birds, beasts, he. to see those excellent landskips,
Dutch-works, and curious cuts of Sadiier of Prage, Albertus
Durer, Goltzius, Urintes, &c. such pleasant peeces of perspec¬
tive, Indian pictures made of feathers, China works, frames,
thaumaturgical motions, exotick toyes, &c. Who is he that
is now wholly overcome with idleness, or otherwise involved
in a labyrinth of worldly cares, troubles and discontents,
that will not be much lightned in his mind by reading of
some inticing story, true or fained, where, as in a glass, he
shall observe what our forefathers have done, the beginnings^,
ruins, fals, periods of common-wealth, private mens actions,
displayed to the life, &c. ? c Plutarch therefore cals them se-
cundas mensas et ballarid, the second course and junkets, be¬
cause they were usually read at noblemens feasts. Who is not
earnestly affected with a passionate speech, well penned, an !
elegant poem, or some pleasant bewitching discourse, like that
of dHelio:lorus, ubi oblectatio quee dam placide Jluit, cum
hilaritate conjuncta? Julian the Apostate was so taken with
an oration of Libanius the sophister, that, as he confesseth,
he could not be quiet till he had read it all out. Legi ora-
tionem tuam magna ex parte , hesternd die ante prandhm :
pransus vero s;ne ulla intermissione totam absolvi. O argu¬
ment® ! O compositionem ! 1 may say the same of this or that
pleasing tract, which willdraw his attention along with it. To
most kind of men it is an extraordinary delight to study. For
what a world of books offers itself, in all subjects, arts, and
.= Iliad. 19. b Topogr. Rom. part. 1.
aolif*. _ a Melancthon, de Heliodoro.
c Quod heroum couviviis legi '
421
Mem. 4.} Exercise rectified.
sciences, to the sweet content and capacity of the reader? In
arithmetiek, geometry, perspective, optick, astronomy, archi¬
tecture, sculptura pictura, of which so many and such elabo¬
rate treatises are of late written ; in mechanioks and their
mysteries, military matters, navigation, a riding of horses,
bfencing, swimming, gardening, planting, great tomes of hus¬
bandry, cookery, faulconry, hunting, fishing, fowling, &c.
with exquisite pictures of all sports, games, and whatnot? In
musiek, metaphysicks, natural and moral philosophy, philo-
Jogie,in policy, heraldry, genealogy, chronology, &c. they afford
great tomes, or those studies of c antiquity, &c. et d quid sub-
tilius arithmeticis inventionibus ? quid jucundius musicis ra¬
tion! bus ? quid divinius astronomicis ?- quid rectius geome -
tricis demonstraiionibus ? What so sure, what so pleasant ?
He that shall but see that geometrical tower of Garezenda at
Bologne, in Italy, the steeple and clock at Strasborough, will
admire the effects of art, or that engine of Archimedes to re¬
move the earth itself, if he had but a place to fasten his in¬
strument; Archimedis cochlea, and rare devises to corrivate
waters, musiek instruments, and trisyllable echoes again,
and again repeated, with miriades of such. What vast tomes
are extant in law, physick, and divinity, for profit, pleasure,
practice, speculation, in verse or prose, &c. ? their names
alone are the subject of whole, volumes: we have thousands
of authors of all sorts, many great libraries full well fur¬
nished, like- so many dishes of meat, served out for several
palates ; aud he is a very block that is affected with none of
them. Some take an infinite delight . to study the very lan¬
guages wherein these books are written, Hebrew, Greek, Sy¬
riac, Chalde, Arabick, Szc. Me thinks it would please any man
to look upon a geographicalmap, (e suavi animum delectations
allicere, ob incredibilem rerum varietatem et jucunditaiem,
et qd pleniorem sui cognitionem excitare) chorographical, to¬
pographical delineations ; to behold, as it were, all the re¬
mote provinces, towns, cities of the world, and never to go
forth of the limits of his study; to measure, by the scale aud
compasse, their extent, distance, examine their site. Charles
the great (as Platiri a writes) hath three faire silver tables, in
one of which superficies was a large map of Constantinople,
in the second Rome neatly engraved, in the third an exqui¬
site description of the w hole world ; and much delight he took
in them. What greater pleasure can there now be, than to
aPluvines. bThibault ?As, in travelling, the rest go forward and
look before them, an antiquary alone loots round about him, seeing things past, &c.
bath a compleat horizon, Janus Bifrons. d Cardan. fcHondius, prasfat.'
Mercatoria.
4&2
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
view those elaborate maps of Ortelius. a Mercator, Hondius,
&e. to peruse those books of cities, put OUt by Bratitius, and
Hogenbergius ? to read those exquisite descriptions of Magi*
nus, Munster, Herrera, Laet, Merida, Boterus, Leander Al-
bertus, Camden, Leo Afer, Adrieomius, Nic. Gerbelius, &e. ?
those famous expeditions of Christoph. Columbus, Americas
Vesputius, Marcus Polus the Venetian, Led. Vertomannus,
Aloysius Cadamustus, See. ? those accurate diaries of Poftu-
gals, Hollanders, of Bartison, Oliver a Nort, &c. Haeluits voy¬
ages, Pet. Martyrs Decades, Bonzo, Leri us, Lifisehotens re¬
lations, those Hodeepericons of Jod. a Meggen, Bfocarde the
monke, Bredenbachius, Jo. DubliniuS, Sands, &c. to Jerusa¬
lem, Egypt, and other remote places of the world ? those
pleasant itineraries of Paulus Hentzerus, Jodoeus Sincerus,
Dux Polonus, &c. to read Belloliius observations, P. Gill ins
his survayes ; those parts of America, set out, and curiously
cut in pictures, by Fratres a Bry. To see a well Cut herbal,
hearbs, trees, flowers, plants, all vegefalS, expressed in their
proper Colours to the life, as that orMatthiolus upon Diosco-
rides, Delacampius,Lobel, Bauhinus, and that last voluminous
and mighty herbal of Besler df Noremberge, wherein almost
every plant is td his own bigtfesse, To see birds, beasts, and
fishes of the sea, spiders, gnats, serpents^ flies, &c. all crea¬
tures set out by the same art, and truly expressed in lively
colours, with m exact description of their natures, vertneSj
qualities, &c. as hath been accurately performed by JEliarS,
Gesner, tllysses Aldrovandus, Bellonius* Rondoletius, Hip-
pdlytus Salviamis, &c. 6 Arcana eoelii naturae secreta, ordi -
nefn umversi scire , majoris felieitatis et dtelcedinis est, quatii
eagitdtione quis dsseqm p&ssit,- dut ntorfdlis sperare. What
more pleasing studies can there be than the mathdmaficks,
theoriek, or practiek parts? as to sUrray land, make maps,
models, dials, Sec. with which I was ever much delighfed my
self. Talis est mathematnm palehfiiudo , (saith c Pl'htarCh) lit
his indignum sit dwitiarum pkaleras istas et hvMm et puel-
laria speef acuta eolttpamri ? such is the excellency of these
Studies, that all those ornaments and childish ^bubbles of
wealth are not worthy to be compared to them : erede rnfhi ,
(dsaitbone)r exstingiti dulceerit mathematicarum arfitim studio ;
I could even live and die with such meditations,, 6 and fake
more delight, true content of mind in them, than thou hast inf
all thy wealth and sport, how rich soever thou art. And, as
f Cardan well seconds me, honorificum magis est et gloriosum
"Atlas Geog. b'Gardsni c Lftf. dtf eupid. divitiarilnr. ilLeoS.
Diggs-, praefat ad perpet. prognost. e Pins capio v&luptatis, &c. f Iii Hy-
perchen. diyis. 3.
Mem. 4.J
Exercise rectified.
423
luxe intelligere, quam provinciis prceesse,f ormosum aut dilem
juvenem esse. The like pleasure there is in all other studies,
to such as are truly addicted to them: aea suavitas , (one holds)
ut, cum quisea degustaverit, quasi poculis Circeis captus, non
possit unquam ab illis divelli ; the like sweetnesse, which, as
Circes cup, bewitcheth a student, he cannot leave off) as well
may witnesse those many laborious houres, dayes, and nights,
spent in the volumnious treatises written by them; |he same
content. b Julius Scaliger was so much affected with poetry,
that he brake out into a pathetical protestation, he had rather
be the author of 12 verses in Lucian, or such an ode in c Ho¬
race, than emperour of Germany. dNieholas Gerbelius, that
S)od old man, was so much ravished with a few Greek au-
ors restored to light, with hope and desire of enjoying the
rest, that he exclaims forthwith, Arabibus atque Indis omnibus
erimus ditiores, we shall be richer than all the Arabick or
Indian princes; of such e esteem they were with him, incom¬
parable worth and value. Seneca prefers Zeno and Chrysip-
pus two doting Stoicks, (he was so much enamoured on their
works) before any prince or general of an army; and Oron-
tius the mathematician so far admires Archimedes, that he
calls him, divinum et homine majorem, a petty god, more than
a man ; and well he might, for ought I see, if you respect
fame or worth. Pindarus of Thebes is as much renowned for
his poems, as Epaminondas, Pelopidas, Hercules, or Bacchus,
his fellow citizens, for their warlike actions ; et sifamam re-
spicias, non pauciores Aristotelis quam A lexandri meminerunt :
(as Cardan notes) Aristotle is more known than Alexander ;
for w'ehave a bare relation of Alexanders deeds; but Aristotle
totusvivit in monumentis, is whole in his works : yet I stand
not upon this ; the delight is it, which I aim at : so great
pleasure, such sweet content there is in study. f King James,
1605, when he came to see our university of Oxford, and,
amongst other aedifices, now went to view that famous library,
renewed by Sr. Thomas Bodley, in imitation of Alexander,
at his departure brake out into that noble speech, If I were
not a king, l would be a university man : e and if it were so,
that I must be a prisoner, if I might have my wish , I would
desire to have no other prison than that library , and to be
chained together with so many good authors , et mortius ma -
a Cardan, praafat. rerom variet bPoetices lib. cLib. 3. Ode 9.
Donee gratus eram tibi, &c. <iDe Peloponnes. lib. 6. descrip. Grsec. eQuos
si integros haheremus, Dii boni ! qnas opes, quos thesanros teneremus ! fIsaaek
Wake, mnsse regnantes. S Si nnquam mihi in fatis sit; ut captivns ducar, si
mihi daretur optio, hoc cuperem carcere concludi, hi3 catenis iliigari, cum hisce cap-
tivis concatenatis state m agere.
VOL. I.
NS
424
Cure of Melancholy.
[Part. 2. Sec. 2.
gistris. So sweet is the delight of study, the more learning
they have, (as he that hath a dropsie, the more he drinks, the
thirstier he is) the more they covet to learn ; and the last day is
prioris diseipulus ; harsh at first learning is ; radices amaree ,
but fructus dulces, according to that of Isocrates, pleasant at
last; the longer they live, the more they are enamoured with
the Muses. Heinsius, the keeper of the library at Leiden in
Holland, was mewed up in it . all the year long ; and that
which to thy thinking should have bred a loathing, caused in
him a greater liking. * I no sooner (saith he) come into the li¬
brary, but I bolt the door to me, excluding lust, ambition,
avarice , and all such vices, whose nurse is Idlenesse the
mother of Ignorance , and Melancholy herself; and in the
very lap of eternity, amongst so many divine souls, I take my
seat, with so lofty a spirit and sweet content, that I pitty all
our great ones, and rich men, that know not this happinesse.
X am not ignorant in the mean time (notwithstanding this
which I have said) how barbarously and basely for the most
part onr ruder gentry esteem of libraries and books, how they
neglect and contemn so great a treasure, so inestimable a be¬
nefit, as 2Esops cock did the jewel he found in the dunghil ;
and all through error, ignorance, and wantof education. And
’tis a wonder withal to observe how much they will vainly cast
away in unnecessary expences, quot modis pereant (saith b Eras¬
mus) magnatibus pecuniae, quantum absumant alea, scoria, com-
potationes, profectiones non necessaries, pompae , bella queesita,
ambitio, colax, morio, ludio , Sfc. what in hawkes, hounds, law-
Mits,vainbuil ding, gurmundizing, drinking, sports, playes,pas-
times,&c. If aweli-min d ed man to the Museswouldsuetosome
of them for an exhibition, to the farther maintenance or in-
largement of such a work, be it college, lecture, library, or
whatsoever else may tend to the advancement of learning,
they are so unwilling, so averse, they had rather see these
which are already with such cost and care erected, utterly
ruined, demolished, or Otherwise employed ; for they repine,
many, and grudge at such gifts and revenews so bestowed :
and therefore it were in vain, as Erasmus well notes, vel ah his ,
vel a negotiatoribus qui se Mammonce dediderunt , improbum
fortasse tale officium exigere, to solicite or aske any thing of
such men (that, are, likely, damn’d to riches) to this purpose.
For my part, I pity these men ; stultos jubeo esse libenter ; let
aEpist Primiero. Pleramque in qua simul ac pedem posui, fbribus pessulam
obdo; ambitionem aniem, amorem, libidinem, &c. exclude, quorum parens estignavia,
imperitia nuirix ; et iu ipso seternitatis gremio, inter tot illustres animas sedem mibi
sumo, cum ingenti quidem ammo, ut subinde magnatum me misereat, qui felicitates!
hanc ignorant. bChil. 2. Cent. 1, adag. 1,
425
Mem. 4.j Exercise rectified.
them go as they are, in the catalogue of Ignoramus. How-
much, on the other side, are we all bound, that are scholars,
to those munificent Ptolemies, bountifull Mecaenates, beroi-
call patrons, divine spirits, - - - a qui nobis laze otiafe-
cerunt : namque erit ille mini semper Dens - — — that
have provided for us so many well furnished libraries, as
well in our publick academies in most cities, as in our private
colleges ? How shall I remember b Sr. Thomas Bodley,
amongst the rest, cGtho Nicholson, and the right reverend
John Williams, lord bishop of Lincolne, (with many other
pious acts) who, besides that at S*i Johns college, in Gam-
bridge, that in Westminster, is now likewise in fieri with a li¬
brary at Lincolne (a noble president for all corporate towns
and cities to imitate) O quern te memorem, vir illustrissime !
quihus elogiis ! but to my taske again.
Whosoever he is, therefore, that is overrun with solitariness,
or carried away with pleasing melancholy and vain conceits,
and for want of imployment knows not how to spend his
time, or crucified with worldly care, I can prescribe him no
better remedy than this of study, to compose himself to the
learning of some art or science; provided alwayes that his
malady proceed not from overmuch study ; for in such cases
he addes fiiell to the fire ; and nothing can be more pernicious.
Let him take heed he do not overstretch his wits, and make a
skeleton of himself; or such inamoratoes as read nothing but
play-books, idle poems, jests, Amadis de Gaul, the Knight of
the Sun, the Seven Champions, Palmerin de Oliva, Huon of
Bordeaux, &c. Such many times prove in the end as mad
as Don Quixot. Study is only prescribed to those that are
otherwise idle, troubled in rninde, or carried headlong with vain
thoughts and imaginations, to distract their cogitations, (al¬
though variety of study, or some serious subject, would do the
former no harm) and divert their continuall meditations an¬
other way. Nothing in this case better than study ; semper
aliquid memoriter ediseant , saitb Piso ; let them learn some¬
thing without book, translate, transcribe, &c. read the scrip¬
tures, which Hy peri us {lib. de quotid. script. lec.fal.il )
holds available of it self : d the mind is erected thereby from
all worldly cares, and hath much quiet and tranquillity ; for,
as e Austin well hath it, ’tis scientia scientiarum, omni melle
dtilcior, omni pane suavior, omni vino hilarior ; ’tis the best
nepenthes , surest cordiall, sweetest alterative, present’st di-
aVirg. eclog. 1. *> Founder of our publike library in Oxon. c Ours
ia Christ-Cbnrcb, Oxon. d Animus levatur inde a curis, multa quiete et tran-
quillitate fruens. - e Ser. 38. ad Fratres Erem.
m
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. £. Sec. 2.
verter : for neither, as * Cbrysostome well adds, those houghs
and leaves of trees which are plashed for cattle to stand un¬
der, in the heat of the day, in summer, so much refresh them
with their acceptable shade, as the reading of the scripture
doth recreate and comfort a distressed soul, in sorrow and af¬
fliction . Paul bids pray continually ; quod cibus corpori,
lectio animce facit, saith Seneca ; as meat is to the body,
such is reading to the soul. b To be at leasure without books
is another hell, and to be buried alive. c Cardan calls a
library the physick of the soul; d divine authors fortifie the
mind, make men bold and constant ; and (as Hyperius adds)
godly conference will not permit the mind to be tortured with
absurd cogitations. Rhasis injoynes continual conference to
such melancholy men, perpetuall discourse of some history,
tale, poem, news," &c. alternos sermones edere ac bibere ,
ceque jucundum quam cibus, sive potus, which feeds the
minde, as meat and drink doth the body, and pleaseth as
much : and therefore the said Rhasis, not without good cause,
woulde have some body still talke seriously, or dispute with
them, and sometimes eto cavil and, wrangle (so that it break
not out to a violent perturbation) ; for such altercation is like
stirring of a dead fire, to make it burn afresh : it whets a
dull spirit, and will not suffer the mind to be drowned in those
profound cogitations , which melancholy men are commonly
troubled with. f Ferdinand and Alphonsus, kings of Arragon
and Sicily, were both cured by reading the history, one of
Curtius, the other of Livy, when no prescribed physick would
take place, e Camerarius relates as much of Laurence Me-
dices. Heathen philosophers are so full of divine precepts in.
this kinde, that, as some think, they alone are able to settle a
distressed mind' —
h Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire dolorem, &c.
Epictetus, Plutarch, and Seneca. Qualis illel quce tela, saith
Lipsius, adversus omnes animi casus, administrat, et ipsam
mortem ! quomodo vitia eripit, infert virtutes ! when I read
Seneca, 'me thinks I am beyond all humane fortunes, on the
top of an hill above mortalities Plutarch saith as much of
r' aHom. 4. de poenitentia. Nam tieque arborum comae, pro per.orum tugririis fractae,
raeridie per sestatem optabilem exhibentes umbram, oves ita reficiunt, ac scripturarom
lectio afflictas angore animas solatur et recreat. b Otium sine literis mors est, et
vivi hominis sepultnra. Seneca. cCap. 99. 1. 57. derer. var. d Fortem
reddant animam et constanteja ; et pium colloquium non permittit animum absurda
cpgitatione torqueri. ' _ _ e Altercationibus utantur, qnae non permittant
animam sabmergi profundis cogitationibus, de quibus otiose cogitat, ettristatur in iis.
. fBodin. prasfat. ad-m^h. hist _ gOperum subcis. cap. 15. bHor.
* Fatendum est, cacumine Olympi constitutus mihi videor, supra ventos et procellas, et ‘
omnes res humanas.
42;
Mem. 4.] Exercise rectified .
Homer ; for which cause, belike, Niceratus, in Xenophon, was
made by his parents to con Homers Iliads and Odysses without
book, ut in virum bonum evaderet , as well to make him a good
and honest man, as to avoid idleness. If this comfort may
be got by philosophy, what shall be had from divinity? What
shall Austin, Cyprian, Gregory, Bernards divine meditations,
afford us ?
Qui, quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non,
Plenius et melius Chrysippo et Crantore dicunt.
Nay what shall the scripture it self, which is like an apothe¬
caries shop, wherein are all remedies for all infirmities of minde,
purgatives, cordials, alteratives, corroboratives, lenitives, &c.?
Every disease of the saith a Austin, hath a peculiar medi¬
cine in the scripture ; this onely is required , that the sich man
take the potion which God hath already tempered. b Gregory
calls it a glass wherein we may see all our infirmities; ignitum
colloquium , Psalm 1 19, 140 ; cOrigen, a charme. And there¬
fore Hierome prescribes Rusticus the monke, d continually to
read the scripture , and to meditate on that which he hath read;
for, as mastication is to meat, so is meditation on that which we
read. I would, for these causes, wish him that is melancholy,
to use both humane and divine authors, voluntarily to impose
sometaskeupon himself, to divert his melancholy thoughts ; to
study the art of memory, Cosmus Roselius, Pet. Ravennas,
Scenkeliusdetectus, orpractise brachygraphy, &c. that will ask
a great deale of attention : or let him demonstrate a proposition
in Euclide in his five last books, extract a square root, or studie
algebra; than which, as eClavius holds, in all humane disci¬
plines, nothing can be more excellent and pleasant, so abstruse
and recondite, so bewitching, so miraculous, so ravishing, so
easie, withall, and full of delight , omnem humanum captum
superare videtur. By this means you may define ex ungue
leonem, as the diverbe is, by his thumb alone the bigness of
Hercules, or the true dimensions of the great fColossus, So¬
lomons temple, and Domitians amphitheater, out of a little
part. By this art you may contemplate the variation of the
23 letters, which may be so infinitely varied, that the words
complicated and deduced thence will not be contained within
* In Ps. 36. Omnis morbus animi in scripturahabet medicinam ; tantum opus est, ut
quisitasger, non recuset potionem qnam Deus tempera vit. _ h In moral, speculum
quo nos intueri possimus. 'Horn. 28. Ut incantatione virus fugatur, ita lectione
malum. d Iterum atque iterum moneo, ut animam sacras scripturae lectione oc-
cupes. Masticat divinum pabulum meditatio. e Ad. 2. delink. 2. elem. In
disciplinis humanis nihil praestantius reperitor : quippe miracula quaedam numerorum
eruit tam abstrusa et recondita, taota nihilominus facilitate et voluptateJ=Eut, &c.
'Which contained 1080000 weight of brass.
m
Cure of Melancholy.
[Part. 2. Sec. 2.
the compass of the firmament: ten words may be varied 40320
several wayes : by this art you may examine how many men
miay stand one by another in the whole superficies of the earth :
some say 148456800000000 , assignando singulis possum qua-
dratum ; how many men, supposing all the world as habitable
as France, as fruitful], and so long lived, may be born in
60000 years; and so may you demonstrate, with a Archimedes,
how many sands the mass of the whole world might contain,
if all sandy, if you did but first know how much a small cube
as big as a mustard-seed might hold; with infinite such. But,
in all nature, what is there so stupend as to examine and cal¬
culate the motion of the planets, their magnitudes, apogeums,
perigeums, eccentricities, how far distant from the earth, the
bigness, thickness, compass of the firmament, each star, with
their diameters and circumference, apparent area, superficies,
by those curious helps of glasses, astrolabes, sextants, qua¬
drants, of which Tycho Brahe in his mechanicks, op ticks (Mi-
vine opticks), arithmetick, geometry, and such like arts and
instruments? What so intricate, and pleasing .withal!, as to
peruse and practise Heron Alexandrians works, de spirita-
iibus, demachinis hellicis, demachina se movente, Jordani JVe-
morarii de ponderibm proposit. 13. that pleasant tract of Ma-
ehomeies Bragdedimis de superficierum divisionibus, Appol-
lonius Conicks, or Commandinus labours in that kinde, de
centra gravitatis, with many such geometricall theorems, and
problems? Those rare instruments and mechanical inventions
of Jae. Bessonusj and Cardan to this purpose, with many such
experiments intimated long since by Roger Bacon in his tract
de 0 Secreiis arils et natures, as to make a chariot to move sine
animaJi, diving boats, to walk on the water by art, and to fly
in the air, to make several cranes and pullies, quibus homo
trahat ad se mille homines, lift up and remove great weights,
mils to move themselves, Archytas dove, Albertos brasen bead,
and such thaumaturgieal works ; but especially to do strange
miracles by glasses, of which Proclus and Bacon writ of old,
burning glasses, multiplying glasses, perspectives, id unus homo
appareat exercitus, to see afar oft', to represent solid bodies,
by cylinders and concaves, to walk in the air, ut voraciter
videant (saifh Bacon) aurum et argentum, et quicquid aliud vo¬
lant, et, quum veniant ad locum visionht, nihil inveniant, which
glasses are much perfected of late by Baptista Porta and Ga¬
lileos, and much more is promised by Maginus andMidorgius,
to be performed in this kinde. Otacousticons some speak of,
to intend hearing, as the other do sight; Marcellas Vrencken,
an Hollander, in his epistle to Burgravius, makes mention of
* Vide Cla vium . in com, de Saerobosco, t Pistantiag eosloram sola optica
dijtuucaf, c Cap. 4. et 5,
Mem, 4,]
429
Exercise rectified.
a friend of his that is about an instrument, quo videhit qu(e in
altero horizonte sint. But our alchymists, me thinks, and Ro¬
sie-cross men afford most rarities, and are fuller of experi¬
ments : they can make gold, separate and alter metals, extract
oyls, salts, lees, and do more strange works then Geber, Lul-
lius. Bacon, or any of those ancients. Crollius hath made,
after his master Paracelsus, auruni fin Iminans , or aurum vola¬
tile j which shall imitate thunder and lightning, and crack
lowder than any . gunpowder ; Cornelius Drible a perpetual
motion, inextinguible lights, linumnon ardens, with many such
feats: see his book de naturaelementorum , besides hail, wind,
snow, thunder, lightning, &c. those strange fire-works, devilish
pettards, and such like warlike machinations derived hence, of
which read Tartalea and others. Ernestus Burgravius, a dis¬
ciple of Paracelsus, hath published a discourse, in which he
specifies a lamp to be made of mans blood, lucerna vitce et
mortis index, so he terms it, which, chymically prepared 40
dayes, and afterward kept in a glasse, shall shew all the acci¬
dents of this life ; si lampas hie clarus, tunc homo hilaris et
sanus corpore et animo ; si nebulosus et depressus, male affici-
tur ; et sic pro statu kominis variatur, unde sumptus sanguis;
and, which is most wonderful, it dies with the party; cum Jio-
mine perit, et evanescit ; the lamp, and the man whence the
1 blood was taken, are extinguished together. The same author
hath another tract of Munia, (all out as vain and prodigious as
the first) by which he will cure most diseases, and transfer them
from a man to a beast, by drawing blood fromone, and applying
it to the other, velin plantam derivare, and an alexipharmacum
(of which Roger Bacon of old, in his Tract, de retardanda senec-
tute) to make a man young again, live three or foure hundred
years : besides panaceas, martial amulets, unguentum armarium ,
balsomes, strange extracts, elixars, and such like magico-mag-
netical cures. Now what so pleasing can there beasthespecu-
lation of these things, to read and examine such experiments ;
or, if a man be more mathematically given, to calculate, or per¬
use Napiers Logarithmes, or those tables of artificial! asinesand
tangents, not long since set out by mine old collegiate good
friend, and late fellow student of Christ-church, in Oxford,
bM. Edmund Gunter, which will perform that by addition and
subtraction only, which heretofore Regiomontanus tables did by
multiplication and division, or those elaborate conclusions of his
csector, quadrant and crossestaffe ? Or let him that is melan¬
choly calculate spherical triangles, square a circle, cast a nati¬
vity, which howsoever sometaxe.I say with d Carcseus, dabimus
hoc petulantibus ingeniis, we will in some cases allow: or let
* Printed at London, anno 1620. bLate astronomy- reader at Gresham college,
c Printed at London by William Jones, 1623. d Praefat. Meth. Astro],
430
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
him make an ephemerides, read Suisset the calculators works,
Scaliger de emendatione temporum , andPetavius his adversary,
till heunderstand them, peruse subtile Scotus and Suarez meta-
physicks, or school divinity, Occam, Thomas, Etisberus, Du¬
rand, &c. If those other do not affect him, and his means be
great, to imploy his purse and fill his head, he may go find the
philosophers stone ; he may apply his mind, I say, to heraldry,
antiquity, invent impresses, emblems ; make epithalamiums,
epitaphs, elegies, epigrams, palindroma epigrammata, ana¬
grams, chronograms, acrosticks upon his friends names ; or
write a comment on Martianus Capella, Tertullian de pallio ,
the Nubian Geography, or upon JElia Lcelia Crispis, as many
idle fellowes have assayed ; and rather than do nothing, vary
a a verse a thousand waies with Putean, so torturing his wits,
or as Rainnerus of Luneburge, b2150 times in his Proteus
Po'eticus, or Scaliger, Chrysolithus, Gleppisius, and others
have in like sort done. If such voluntary tasks, pleasure and
delight, or crabbednesse of these studies, will not yet divert
their idle thoughts, and alienate their imaginations, they must
be compelled, saith Ghristophorus a Vega, cogi debent, l. 5.
c. 14. upon some mulct, if they perform it not, quod ex officio
incumbat, lossof creditor disgrace, such as are our pubiick uni¬
versity exercises. F or, as he that playesfor nothing, will not heed
his game ; no more will voluntary imployment so thoroughly
affect a student, except he be very intent of himself, and take
an extraordinary delight in the study, about which he is con¬
versant. It should be of that nature his business, which co¬
lons nolens he must necessarily undergo, and without great
loss, mulct, shame, or hindrance, he may not omit.
Now for women, instead of laborious studies, they have cu¬
rious needle- works, cut works, spinning, bone-lace, and many
pretty devises of their own making, to adorn their houses,
cushions, carpets, ehaires, stools, ( for she eats not the bread of
idleness, Prov. 31. 27. qucesivit lanarn et linum ) confections,
conserves, distillations, &c. which they shew to strangers.
e Ipsa comes prsese que opens venientibus ultro
Hosphibus monstrare solet, non segniter horas
Contestata suas, sed nec sibi deperiisse.
Which to her guests she shews, with all her pelfe :
“Thus far my maids ; but this I did my selfe.’’
This they have tobusie themselves about, houshold offices, &c.
d neat gardens, full ofexotick, versicoloured iversly varied, sweet
a Tot tibi stmt dotes, virgo, quot sidera cpelo. 6 Da, pie Ghriste, urbi bona
sit pax tempore nostro. c Chalonerus, Lib. 0. de Rep. Aag. d Hortus
eorosarius, medicos, et cnlinarius, &c.
Mem. 4.] Exercise rectified. 431
smelling flowers, and plants in all kinds, which they are most
ambitious to get, curious to preserve and keep, proud to possess,
and much many times brag of. Their merry meetings and fre¬
quent visitations, mutual invitations in good towns, I voluntarily
omit, which are so much in use, gossiping among the meaner
sort, &c. Old folks have their beads; an excellent invention to
keep them from idleness, that are by nature melancholy, and
past all affairs, to say so many paternosters, avemarias, creeds ,
if it were not prophane and superstitious. In a word, body and
mind must be exercised, not one, but both, and thatin a medio¬
crity : otherwise it will cause a great inconvenience. If the
body be overtired, it tires the mind. The mind oppresseth the
body, as with students it oftentimes fals out, who (asaPlutarch
observes) have no care of the body, but compel that which is
mortal, to do as much as that which is immortal; that which is
earthly , as that which is etherial. But as the oxe, tyred, told
the camel ( both serving one master ) that refused to carry some
part of his burden , beforeit were long, he should be compelled to
carry all his pack, and shin to boot ( which by and by, the oxe
being dead, fell out), the.hody may say to the soul, that will give
him no respite or remission : a little after, an ague, vertigo,
consumption seiseth on them both ; all his study is omitted, and
they must be compelled to be sick together. He that tenders
his own good estate and health, must let them draw with
equal yoke both alike, b that so they may happily enjoy their
wished health.
aTom. 1. de sanit. tuend. Qui rationem corporis non habeni, sed cognnt mortalem
immortalij terrestrem ae there* aequalem prasstare industriam. Cseternm ut camelo usu
venityquod ei bos prasdixerat, cum eidem servirent domino, et parte oneris levare ilium
camelus recusasset, paulo post et ipsius cutem, et totiim onus congereturgestare (quod
mortuo bove impletum), ita animo quoque contingit, dum defatigato corpori, &c.
*> Ut pulchram illam et amabilem sanitatem praestemus.
432
Cure of Melancholy . [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
MEMB. V.
Waking and terrible dreams rectified.
As waking, that hurts, by all means, must be avoided, so
sleep, which so much helps, by like waies, '•‘■must be procured,
by nature or art, inwar dor outward medicines, and be protract¬
ed longer than ordinary, if it may be, as being an especiall
help. It moystens and fattens the body, concocts, and helps
digestion, as we see in dormice, and those Alpine mice that
sleep all winter, (which Gesner speaks of) when they are so
found sleeping under the snow in the dead of winter, as fat as
butter. It expels cares, pacifies the minde, refresheth the
weary limbs after long work.
h So.mne, quies rerum, placidissime, Somne, Deorum,
Pax animi, quem cura fugit, qui corpora, duris
Fessa ministeriis^ mulces, reparasque labori.
Sleep, rest of tilings, O pleasing deity,
Peace of the soul, which, cares doth erucifie.
Weary bodies refresh and mollifie.
The chiefest thing in all physick e Paracelsus calls it, omnia
arcana gemmarum super ans et metattorum. The fittest time is
d tiro or three hour es after supper , when as the meat is now settled
at the bottome of the stomach; and’ tis good to lie on the right
side first, because at that site the liver doth rest under the sto¬
mach, hot molesting any way, but heating him, as a fife doth a
kettle, that is put to it. After the first sleep, ’tis not amiss to lie
on the leftside, that the meat may the better descend, and some¬
times againonthebelly,butneveronthe back. Seven or eight
hours is a competent time for a melancholy man to rest, as
Crato thinks; but, as some do, to lie in bed, and not sleep, a
day, or half a day together, to give assent to pleasing conceits
and vain imaginations, is many wayes pernicious. To procure
this sweet moistning sleep, it’s best to take away the occasions
(if it be possible) that hinder it, and then to dse such inward
or outward remedies, which may cause it. Constat hodie (saith
Boissardus, in his Tract de magid, cap. 4) multos ita fascinari,
' e Interdicendse vigiliffi ; somni paullo longiores conciliandi. Altomarus, cap. 7.
Somnus supra modum prodest, quovis modo conciliandus. Piso. b Ovid. cln
Hippoe'. Aphoris. d Crato, cons. 21. lib. 2. Dnabns aut tribus horis post coenam,
quum jam cibus ad fundum ventriculi resederit, primum super latere dexiro quiescen-
dam. qaod in tali decubitu jecur sab ventriculo quiescat, non gravans, sed cibnm
calefaciens, perinde ac ignis lebetem qui illi admovetur : post primum soranum, quies-
eendum latere sinistro, &c.
Mem. 5.]
433
Waking and Dreams rectified.
ut nodes integras exigant insomnes, summa mquietudhie ani-
morum et corporum : many cannot sleep for witches and fasci¬
nations, whichare too familiar in some places : they call it, dare
alicui malarn nodem. But the ordinary causes are heat and
dryness, which must first be removed. a A hot and dry brain
never sleeps well: griefs, feers, cares, expectations,anxieties,
great businesses, Qin aurem utramque otiose ut dormias) and
all violent perturbations of the mind, must in some sort be
qualified, before we can hope for any good repose. He that
sleeps in the day time, or is in suspense, fear, any way
troubled in minde, or goes to bed upon a full c stomach, may
never hope for quiet rest in the night. Nee enim meritoria
somnos admittunt, as the dpoet saith : innes and such like
troublesome places are not for sleep; one calls ostler, another
tapster; one or yes and shouts, another sings, wh oupes, hoi lows,
— -eabsentem eautat amicam,
Multa prolutus vappa, nauta atque viator.
Who, not accustomed to such noyses, can sleep amongst them?
He that will intend to take his rest, must go to bed animo securo,
quiet o, et liber o, with a f secure and composed minde, in a quiet
place ;
(Omnia noetis erunt placida composta quiete)
and if that will not serve, or may not be obtained, to seek then
such means as are requisite : to lye in clean linnen and sweet:
before he goes to bed, or in bed, to hear § sweet musick,
(which Ficinus commends, lib. 1. cap. 24) or (as Jobertus, med.
praet. lib. 3. cap. 10) h to read some pleasant author till he
he asleep, to have a bason of water still dropping by his bed
side, or to lie near that pleasant murmure, 1 lene sonantis aquae,
some floud-gates, arches, falls of water, like London bridge,
or some continuate noise which may benum the senses. Denis
motus, silentium, et tenebrce , turn et ipsa voluntas, somnos fa-
ciunt; as a gentle noyse to some procures sleep, so, which Ber-
nardius Tilesius (lib. de somno ) well observes, silence, in a
darke roome, and the will itself, is most available to others.
Piso commends frications, Andrew Borde a good draught of
strong* drink before one goes to bed ; I say, a nutmeg, and ale,
or a good draught of muscadine, with a tost and a nutmeg, or a
posset of the same, which many use in a morning, but, me
® Saspius accidit melancholicis, at, nimium exsiccato cerebro vigiliis, attenuentur,
Ficinus, lib. 1. cap. 29. b Ter. c Ut sis nocte. ievis, sit tibi coena
brevis. a Juven. Sat. 3. e Hor. Ser. lib. 1. Sat. 5. f Sepositis curis
omnibus, quantum fieri potest, una cum vesnbus,'&c. Kirkst. "Ad lioram souj-
ni, aures suavibus cantibus et sonis delenire. h Lectio jucunda, aut sermo,
ad quern attentior animus eoavertiiur : aut aqua ab alio in subjectam pelvim delabatur,
&c. s Ovid,
434
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
thinks, for such as have dry brains, are much more proper at
night. Some prescribe a asup of vinegar as they go to bed, a
spoonefull, saith Aetius, Tetrabib. lib. 3. ser. 2. cap. 10. lib. 6.
cap. 10. JEgineta, lib. 3. cap. 14. Piso, a little after meat,
b because it rarifies melancholy , and procures an appetite to
sleep. Donat, ab Altomar. cap. 7, and Mercurialis, approve
of it, if the malady proceed from the cspleen. Sallust. Salvian.
(lib. 2. cap. 1. de remed.) Hercules de Saxonia, (in Pan.)
iElianus Montaltus, (de morb. capitis, cap: 28. deMelan .) are
altogether against it. Led. Mercatus (de inter, morb. cau.lib.l.
cap. 17) in some cases doth allow it. d Rhasis seems to de¬
liberate of it: though Simeon commend it (in sawce perad-
venture) he makes a question of it: as for baths, fomentations,
oyls, potions, simples or compounds, inwardly taken to this
purpose, el shall speak of them elsewhere. If in the midst
of the night when they lie awake, which is usuall, to toss and
tumble, and not sleep, fRanzovius would have them, if it bee
in warme weather, to rise and walk three or four turn es (till
they be cold) about the chamber, and then go to bed again.
Against fear full and troublesome dreams, incubus, and such
inconveniences, wherewith melancholy men are molested, the
best remedy is to eat a light supper, and of such meats as are
easie of digestion, no hare, venison, beef, &c. not to lie on his
back, not to meditate or think in the day time of any terrible
objects, or especially talke of them before he goes to bed. For,
as he said in Lucian, after such conference, Hecatas somniare
mild videor, I can think of nothing but hobgoblins : and, as
Tully notes, sfor the most part our speeches in the day time
cause our phantasie to work upon the like in our sleep ; which
Ennius writes of Homer:
Et canis in somnis leporis vestigia latrat :
as a dog dreames of an hare, so do men, on such subjects they
thought on last.
Somnia, quae mentes ludunt volitantibus utnbris,
Nec delubra Deftm, nec ab sethere Numina mittunt,
Sed sibi quisque facit, &c.
For that cause, when hPtoIemy king of Egypt had posed the
70 interpreters in order, and asked the nineteenth man, what
would make one sleep quietly in the night, he told him,
a Aceti sorbitio. *> Attenuat melancholiam, et ad conciliandum sotnnutn juvat.
c Quod lieni acetum conveniat d Cont. 1. tract. 9. meditandum de aceto.
e Sect 5. memb. 1. subsect 6. f Lib. de sanit tuenda. sin Soro. Scip.
Fit enim fere ut cogitationes nostrae et sermones pariant aliquid in somno, quale de
Homero scribit Ennius, de quo videlicet saepissime vigilans solebat cogitare et loqui.
h AristeK hist
435
Mem. 6. Sabs. 1.] Passions rectified.
*• The best way was to have divine and celestiall meditations, and
to use honest actions in the day time. b Lod. Vives wonders how
schoolemen could sleep quietly, and were not terrifiedin the night ,
or walke in the darke, they had such monstrous questions, and
thought of such terrible matters all day long. They had need,
amongst the rest, to sacrifice to God Morpheus, whom cPhi-
lostratus paints in a white and black coat, with a horn and
ivory box full of dreams, of the same colours, to signify good
and bad. If you will know how to interpret them, read Ar-
teraidorus, Sambucus, and Cardan: but how to help them, dI
must refer you to a more convenient place.
MEMB. VI. SUBSECT. I.
Perturbations of the minder edified. Fromhimself, by resisting
to the utmost, confessing his grief to a friend, fyc.
Whosoever he is. that shall hope to cure this malady
in himself or any other, must rectifie first these passions and
perturbations of the minde ; the chiefest cure consists in
them. A quiet mind is that voluptas, or summum bonum of
Epicurus; non dolere, curis vacare, animo tranquillo esse, not
to grieve, but to want cares, and have a quiet soul, is the only
pleasure of the world, as Seneca truly recites his opinion, not
that of eating and drinking, which injurious Aristotle mali¬
ciously puts upon him, and for which he is still mistaken, male
audit et vapulat, slandered without a cause, and lashed by all
posterity. e Fear and sorrow therefore are especially to be
avoided, and the minde to be mitigated with mirth, constancy,
good hope : vain terror, bad objects, are to bee removed, and
all such persons in whose companies they be not well pleased.
Gualter Bruel, Fernelius, consil 43. Mercurialis, consil. 6.
Piso, Jacchinus, cap. 15. in 9 Rhasis, Capivaccius, Hilde-
sheim, &c. all inculcate this as an especiall meanes of their
cure, that their f minds be quietly pacified, vain conceits di¬
verted, if it be possible, with terrors, cares, % fixed studies, cogi-
tationes, and whatsoever it is that shall any way molest or
a Optimum de coelestibus et honestis meditari, et ea facere. b Lib. 3. de
cau3sis eorr. ait. Tam mira monstra qusestionum ssepe nascnntur inter eos, nt mirer
eos interdum in somniis non terreri, ant de illis in tenebris andere verba facere, adeo
res sunt monstrosse. l: Icon. lib. i. d Sect. 5. memb. 1. subs. 6. eAnimi
perturbation es summe fugiendae, metns potissirnum et tristitia; eoramque loco, animus
demnleendus hilaritate, animi constantia, bona spe ; removendi terrores, et eorum con¬
sortium quos non probant. fPhantasiae eorum placide snbvertendae, ter¬
rores ab animo removendi. s Ab omni fixa cogitatione qnovis modo
avertantnr.
436 Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
trouble Hie soul, because that otherwise there is no good to be
done. a The bodies mischief es, as Plato proves, proceed from
the soul: and if the mind be not first satisfied, the body can
never be cured. Alcibiades raves (saith b Maximus Tyrius),
and is sick; bis furious desires carry him from Lyceus to the
pleading place, thence to the sea, so into Sicily, thence to La¬
cedaemon, thence to Persia, thence to Samos, then again to
Athens; Critias tyrannizeth over all the city; Sardanapalus is
love-sick; these men are ill-affected all, and can never be
cured, till their minds be otherwise qualified. Crato therefore,
in that often cited counsell of his for a noble man his patient,
when he had sufficiently informed him in diet, air, exercise,
Venus, sleep, concludes with these as matters of greatest mo¬
ment : quod reliquum est, animoe accidentia corrigantur, from
which alone proceeds melancholy ; they are the fountain, the
subject, the hinges whereon it turns, and must necessarily be
reformed. cFor anger stirs choler, heats the blood and vital
spirits : sorrow on the other side refrigerates the body, andex-
tinguisheth natural heat, overthrows appetite, hinders concoc¬
tion, dries up the temperature , and perverts the understand¬
ing: fear dissolves the spirits, infects the heart, attenuates the
soul : and for these causes all passions and perturbations must,
to the uttermost of our power, and most seriously, be re¬
moved. JE1 ianus Montaltus attributes so much to them, d that
he holds the rectification of them, alone to be sufficient to the
cure of melancholy in most patients. Many are fully cured
when they have seen or heard, &c. enjoy their desires, or be
secured and satisfied in their minds. Galen, the common
master of them all, from whose fountain they fetch water* brags
(lib. X, de san. tuend.) that he for his part hath cured divers of
this infirmity, solum animisadrectum insiitutis, by right settling
alone of their minds.
Yea, but you will here infer, that this is excellent good in¬
deed, if it could be done ; but how shall it be effected, by
whom, what art, what means? hie labor, hoc opus est. ’Tis a
natural infirmity, a most powerful adversary : all men are sub¬
ject to passions; and melancholy above all others, as being dis¬
tempered by their innate humors, abundance of choler adust,
a Cuncta mala corporis ab animo procedunt, quae nisi erirentur, corpus curari minime
potest. Charmid. b Disputat. an morbi graviores corporis an animi.
Renoldo interpret Ut parum absit a furore, rapitura Lyceo in concionem, a concione-
ad mare, a mari in Sicilian!, &c. c Ira bile m move t, sangninem
admit, vitaies spiritus accendit ; mcestitia universum corpus infrigidat, calorem
innatum exstinguit, appetitum destrnit, concoctionem impedit, corpus exsiccat, in¬
tellectual pervertit Quamobrem lime omnia prorsns vitanda sunt, et pro virili fn-
gierida. d X)e mel. c. 25. Ex illis solum remedium ; multi ex visis, auditis, &c. -
sanati sunt /
437
Mem. 6. Subs. 1.] Passion* rectified.
weakness of parts, outward occurrences; and how shall they be
avoided ? The wisest men, greatest philosophers, of most ex¬
cellent wit, reason, judgement, divine spirits, cannot moderate
themselves in this behalf: such as are sound in body and mind,
stoieks, heroes, Homers gods, ail are passionate, and furiously
carryed sometimes; and how shall we that are already crazed,
fracti animis , sick in body, sick in mind, resist? we cannot per¬
form it. You may advise and give good precepts, as who can¬
not? But, how shall they be put in practice? I may not deny
but our passions are violent, and tyrannize over us; yet there
be means to curb them ; though they be headstrong, they may
be tamed, they may be qualified, if be himself or his friends
will but use their honest endeavours, or make use of such
ordinary helps as are commonly prescribed.
He himself (I say) ; from the patient himself the first and
chiefest remedy must be had ; for, if he be averse, peevish,
waspish, give way wholly to his passions, will not seek to be
helped, or ruled by his frie'ndsj how is it possible he should
be cured ? But if he be willing at least, gentle, tractable, and
desire his own good, no doubt but he may magnam morbi
deponere partem, be eased at least, if not cured. He, himself
must do his utmost endeavour to resist and withstand the be¬
ginnings. Prineipiis obsta : Give not water passage, no- not
a little, Eccles. 25. 27. If they open a little, they will make
a greater breach at length. Whatsoever it is that runneth in
his mind, vain conceit, be it pleasing or displeasing, which
so much affects. or troubleth him, a by all possible means he
must withstand it, expel those vain, false, frivolous imagina¬
tions, absurd conceits, fained fears and sorrowes (from which,
saith Piso, this disease prim arily proceeds, and takes his first
occasion or beginning ) by doing something or other that shall
he opposite unto them , thinking ofi something else, per swading
by reason, or howsoever, to make a sudden alteration of them.
Though he have hitherto run in a full career, and pre¬
cipitated himself, following his passions, given reins to his
appetite, let him now stop upon a sudden, curb himself in,
and, as b Lemnius adviseth, strive against with all his power ,
to the utmost ofi his endeavour , and not cherish those fond
imaginations, which so covertly creep into his mind, most
a Pro viribus anmtendnm in prsedictis, turn in aliis, a quibns roalnm, velnta primaria
canssa, occasionem nactum est ; imaginationes absurd® falsseque et raoestitia queecanque
subierit, propnlsetar, aut alind agendo, aut ratione persnadendo earifm muiationem
subito facere. b Lib. 2. c. 18. de occult, nat. Qaisquis haic malo obnoxins
est, acriter obsistat, et summa cura ohlnctetur, nec alio modo foveat imaginationes
-tacite obrepentes animo, blanaas ab-initio et amabiles, sed qnae adeo convalescnnt, nt
nulla ratione excuti queant.
438
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2,
pleasing and amiable at firsts hut bitter as gall at last, and
so head-strong, that,\by no reason, art , counsel, or persivasion,
they may be shaken off. Thoughhe be fargone,and habituated
unto such phantasticall imaginations, yet, (as aTuIly anc! Plu¬
tarch advise) let himoppose, fortifie, or prepare himself against
them, by premeditation, reason, or (as we do by a crooked
staffe) bend himself another way.
f>Tu tamen interea effugito quse tristia mentetn
Solicitant; procul esse jube curasque metumque
Pallentem, ultnces iras; sint omnia leeta.
In the mean time expel them from thy mind.
Pale fears, sad cares, and griefs, which do it grind,
Revengeful anger, pain and discontent :
Let all thy soule be set on merriment.
Curas tolle graves: irasci crede profanum.
If it be idleness hath caused this infirmity, or that heperceive
himself given to solitariness, to walk alone and please his
mind with fond imaginations, let him by all means avoid it;
’tis abosome enemy; ’tis delightsome melancholy, a friend in
shew, but a secret devil, a sweet poyson ; it will in the end
behis undoing; lethim go presently, task or set himself a work,
get some good company. If he proceed, as a gnat flies about
a candle so long till at length he burn his body, so in the end
he will undo himself; if it be any harsh object, ill company,
let him presently go from it. If by his own default through ill
diet, bad aire, want of exercise, &c. let him now begin to re¬
form himself. It would be a perfect remedy against all cr-
ruption. if (as c Roger Bacon hath it) we could but moderate
our selves in those six noh-natural things. d If it be any
disgrace, abuse, temporal loss , calumny, death of friends, im¬
prisonment, banishment, be not troubled with it ; do not fear, be
not angry , grieve not at it, but with all courage sustain it.
(Gordonius, lib. 1. c. 15. de corner, vit.) Tu contra audehtior
ito. e If it be sickness, ill success, or any adversity, that hath
caused it, oppose an invincible courage ; fortifie thy self by
Gods word ; or otherwise , mala bonis persuadenda, set
a Tusc. ad Apolloniom. b Fracastorius. c Epist.- de secretis artis et
naturae, cap. -7/de retard, sen. Remedinm contra corrnptionem propriam, siqnilibet ex-
erceret regimen sanitatis, quod consistat in rebus sex non naturalibus. d Pro aliquo
vitoperio non iridigneris, nec pro amissione alicojns rei, pro niorfe alicujus, nec pro
carcere, nec pro exiiio, nec pro alia re, nec irascaris, nec timeas, nec aoleas, sed cum
summa prmsentia bmc sustineas. e Quod si incommoda adversitatis infortnnia
hoc malum invexerint, his infractum animum opponas : Dei verbo ejusque fiducia te
suffolcias, &c. Eemnius, lib. 1. c. 16.
439
Mem. 8. Subs. 1.} Passions rectified.
prosperity against adversity : as we refresh our eyes by seeing
some pleasant meadow, fountain, picture, or the like, recreate
thy mind by some contrary object, with some more pleasing
meditation divert thy thoughts.
Yea, but you infer again, facile consilium damns aliis, we
can easily give counsel toothers; every man, as the saying is,
can tame a shrew, but he that hath her : si hie esses, aliter
sentires: if you were in our misery, you would find it other¬
wise ; ’tis not easily performed. We know this lobe true;
we should moderate our selves ; but we are furiously carryed ;
we cannot make use of such precepts ; we are overcome, sick,
male sani, distempered, and habituated in these courses; we
can make no resistance ; you may as well bid him that is dis¬
eased, not to feel pain, as a melancholy man not to fear, not to
be sad: ’tis within his blood, bis brains, his whole temperature :
it cannot be removed. But he may chuse whether, he will
give way too far unto it ; he may in some sort correct himself.
A philosopher was bitten with a mad dog; and, as the nature of
that disease is to abhor all waters, arid liquid things, and to
think still they see the picture of a dog before them, he went,
for all this, reluctante se, to the bath, and seeing there (as he
thought) in the water the picture of a dog, with reason over¬
came this conceit : quid cani cum balneo ? what should a dog
do in abath ? a meer conceit. Thouthinkest thou hearest and
seest devils, black men, &c. ’tis not so; ’tis thy corrupt phan-
tasie ; settle thine imagination ; thou art well. Thou tbinkest
thou hast a great nose, thou art sick, every man observes thee,
laughs thee to scorn: perswadethy self ’tis no such matter : this
is fear only, and vain suspicion. Thou art discontent, thou
art sad and heavy, but why ? upon what ground ? consider of if :
thou art jealous, timorous, supicious; for whatcause? examine
it thoroughly ; thou shalt find none at all, or such as is to be
contemned, such as thou wilt surely deride, and contemn in
thy self, when it is past. Rule thy self then with reason ;
satisfie thy self; accustom thy self; wean thy self from such
fond conceits, vain fears, strongimaginations,restless thoughts.
Thou mayest do it : est in nobis assuescere (as Plutarch saith) :
we may frame our selves as we will. As he that useth an up¬
right shooe, may correct the obliquity or crookedness by wearing
it on the other side ; we may overcome passions if we will.
Quicquid sibi imperavit animus , obtinuit (as a Seneca saith) :
nulli tamferi qffectus, ut non discipline, perdomentur : what¬
soever the will desires, she may command : no such cruel affec¬
tions, but by discipline they may be tamed. Voluntarily thou
VOL. i.
L Lib, 2. de ira.
O O
440
Cure of Melancholy . [Part, 2. Sec. 2.
wilt not do, this or that, which thou oughtest to do, or refrain,
&c. but when thou art lashed like a dull jade, thou wilt re¬
form it; fear of a whip will make thee do, or not do. Do that
voluntarily then which thou canst do-, and must do by com¬
pulsion : thou xnaist refrain if thou wilt, and master thine
affections. &As, in a city, (saith Melancthon) they do by stub¬
born rebellious rogues , that will not submit themselves to politi¬
cal judgment, compel them by force; so must we do by our
affections. If tke heart will not lay aside those vicious motions ,
and the phantasie those fond imaginations, we have angther
form of government to enforce andrefrain our outward members,
that they be not led by our passions. If appetite will not
obey, let the moving faculty over-rule her ; let her resist and
compel her to do otherwise. In an ague, the appetite would
drink; sore eyes that itch, would be rubbed; but reason saith
no ; and therefore the moving faculty will not do it. Our phan-
tasie would intrude a thousand fern's, suspicions, chimeras
upon us ; but we have reason to resist ; yet we let it be over¬
borne by our appetite. b Imagination enforceth spirits , which
by an admirable league of nature compel the nerves to obey ,
and they are several limbs : we give too much way to our pas¬
sions, And as, to him that is sick of an ague, all things are
distastful and unpleasant, non ex cibi vitio, saith Plutarch,
not in the meat, but in our taste : so many things are offensive
to us, not of themselves, but out of our corrupt j udgement,
jealousie; suspicion, and the like ; we pull these mischiefs
upon our own heads.
If thenourjudgementhe so depraved, our reason over-ruled,
will precipitatedjlhat we cannot seek our own good, or moderate
our selves, as in this disease commonly it is, the best way for
ease is to impart our misery to some friend, not to smother it
up in our own breast ; alitur vitium, crescitque, tegendo, ffc.
and that which was most offensive to us, a cause of fear and
grief, quod nunc te coquit , another hell ; for
c Strangulat inclusus dolor, atquc exsesluat intus,
grief concealed strangles the soul; hut when as we shall but
impart it to some discreet, trusty , loving friend, it is d instantly
removed byhis counsel happily, wisdome, perswasion, advice,
aCap. 3. de affect, anim. Ut in civitatibns contumaces, qui non cedunt politico im-
perio. vi coercendi sunt ; ita Deus nobis indidit alteram imperii formam ; si cor non de-
ponit vitiosum affectum, membra foras coercenda sunt, ne ruant in quod affectus im-
pellat: et locomotiva, quse herili imperio obtemperat, alteriresistat. b Imaginatio
impellit spiritus, et indenervi moventor, &c. et obtemperant imaginationi et appetitui
mirabili fcedere, ad exsequendum quod jubent. c Ovid. Trist. lib. 5: d Par-
ticipes inde calamitatis nostras sunt ; et, velut exonerate ineos sarcina, onere levamur-
Arist. Eth. lib. 9.
Mem, 6. Subs. 1.] Passions rectified. 44 i
his good means, which we could not otherwise apply unto our
selves. A friends counsel is a charm ; like mandrake wine,
c uras sopit ; and as a abull that is tyed to a fig-tree, becomes
gentle on a sudden (which some, saith bPlutarch, interpret of
good words), so is a savage, obdurate heart mollified by faire
speeches. All adversity finds ease hi complaining (as c Isidore
holds) ; and’tis a solace to relate it :
d Ayat&jj <k irxfXiQxerm ecttui eractpovs.
friends confabulations are comfortable at all times, as fire in
winter, shade in summer ; quale sopor fiessis in gramme, meat
and drink to hint that is hungry or athirst. Democritus colly-
rium is not so soveraign to the eyes, as this is to the heart ;
good words are cheerful and powerful of themselves, but much
more from friends, or as many props, mutually sustaining each
other, like ivie and a wal, which eCamerarius hath well illus¬
trated in an embleme. Lenit animum simplex vel scepe nar -
ratio, the simple narration many times easeth our distressed
mind; and in the midst of greatest extremities, so divers have
been relieved, by f exonerating themselves to a faithful friend ;
he sees that which we cannot see for passion and discontent :
he pacifies our minds; he will ease our pain, asswage our anger.
Quanta inde voluptas ! quanta securitas ! Chrysostome addes:
what pleasure ! what security by that means! s Nothing so
available , or that so much refresheth the soul of man. Tully,
as I remember, in an epistle to his dear friend Attic us, much
condoles the defect of such a friend. h I live here (saith he)
in a*great citie, where I have a multitude of acquaintance, but
not a man of all that companie, with whom I dare familiarly
breath , or freely jest. Wherefore I expect thee, I desire thee ,
I send for thee ; for there be many things which trouble and
molest me, which, had I but thee in presence , I could quickly
disburden myself of in a walking discourse . The like perad-
venture may he and he say with that old man in the comedy.
Nemo est meorum amicorum hodie,
A pud quern expromere occulta mea audeam :
and much inconvenience may both he and he suff er in the mean
time by it. He or he, or whosoever then labours of this ma¬
lady, by all means let him get some trusty friend,
* Semper habens Pyladen que aliquem, cut curet Qresten,
: * Camerarius, Embl. 26. Cen. 2. ^Sympos. lib. 6. cap. 10. c Epist. 8. lib. 3.
Adversa fortamahabet in querelis levamentum ; et malorom relatio, &c. dAlloqoiura
carijuvat, et solamen, amici. e Emblem. 54. cent. 1. f As David did to
Jonathan, 1 Sam. 20. g Seneca, Epist. 67. t Hie in civitate magna
et tnrba magna neminem reperire possnmns, quocum snspirare familiariter, ant jocari
libere, possimus. Qnare te exspectamus, te desideramns, te arcessimus. Malta sant
enim, quae me solicitant et angunt, quae mihi videor, anrestuas nactus, nnins ambula-
tionis sermone exhaqrire posse. > Ovid.
o o 2
[Part. 2. Sec. 2.
442 Cure of Melancholy.
a Pylades, to whom freely and securely he may open himself.
F or, as in all other occurrences, so it is in this — si quisin ccelum
ascendisset, &C. as he said inaTully, if a man had gone to
heaven, seen the beauty of the skies , stars errant, fixed, Szc. in-
suavis erit admiratio, it will do him no pleasure, except he have
some body to impart what he hath seen. It is the best thing
in the world, as b Seneca therefore adviseth in such a case, to
get a trusty friend, to whom, we may freely and sincerely pour
out our secrets . Nothing so delighteth and easeth the minde ,
as when we have a prepared bosome, to which our secrets may
descend, of whose conscience we are assured as our own, whose
speech may ease our succour less estate , counsell relieve , mirth
expell pur mourning, and whose very sight may be acceptable
unto us. It was the counsell which that politick c Commineus
gave to all princes, and others distressed in mind, by occasion
of Charles, duke of Burgundy, that was much perplexed, first
to pray to God, and lay himself open to him, and then to some
speciall friend, whom we hold most dear, to tell all our grievances
to him. Nothing so forcible to strengthen, recreate , andhealthe
wounded soul of a miserable man.
SUBSECT. II.
Help from Friends by Counsell, Comfort, fair and foul Means ,
witty Devices, Satisfaction, Alteration of ' his Course of
Life, removing Objects, fyc.
When the patient of himself is not able to resist 6r over¬
come these heart-eating passions, his friends or physician
must be ready to supply that which is wanting. Suce erithu-
manitatis et sapientice , (which dTully injoyneth in like case)
siquid erratum, curare, aut improvisum, sua diligentid corri-
gere. They must all joyn ; nec satis medico, saith e Hippo¬
crates, suumfecisse officium, nisi suum quoque cegrotus, suum
astantes, Sj-c. F irst they must especially beware, a melancholy
discontented person (be it in what kinde of melancholy
soever) never be left alone or idle : but, as physicians prescribe
physick, cum custodid, let them not be left unto themselves^
but with some company or other, lestby that means they aggra.!
a De amicitia. b De tranquil, c. 7. Optimum est amicum fidelem nancisci,' in
quem secreta nostra infundamus. Nihil aeque oblectat animum, quam ubi sint prae-
parata pectora, in quae tnto secreta descendant, quorum conscientia aeque ac tua ; quo¬
rum sermo solitudinem leniat, sententia consilium expediat, hilaritas tristitiam dissipet,
eonspectusque ipse delectet. e Comment. 1. 7. AdDeum confngiamus, et peccatis
yeniam precemur, inde ad amicos, et cui plurimum tribuimus, nos patefaciamus totos, et
animi vulnas quo affligimur : nihil ad reficiendum animum efficacius. i Ep. ad
Q. frat. e Aphor. prim.
Mem. 6. Subs. 2.] Mind rectified, 443
vate and increase their disease. Non oportet cegros hujusmodi
esse solos, vel inter ignotos, vel inter eos quos non amant aut
negligunt, as Rod. a Fonseca, (Tom. \. consul. 35) prescribes.
Lugentes custodire solemus, (saith a Seneca) ne solitudine
male utantur ; we watch a sorrowfull person, lest he abuse his
solitariness : and so should we do a melancholy man ; set
him about some business, exercise, or recreation, which may
divert his thoughts, and still keep him otherwise intent; for
his phantasie is so restless, operative and quick, that, if it be
not in perpetual! action, ever employed, it will work upon
it self, melancbolize, and be carried away instantly with some
fear, jealousie, discontent, suspicion, some vain conceit or
other. If his weakness be such, that he cannot discern what
is amiss, correct or satisfie, it behoves them, by counsel, com¬
fort, or perswasion, by fair or foul means, to alienate his
mind by some artificial invention or some contrary perswasidn,
to remove all objects, causes, companies, occasions, as may
any wayes molest him, to humour him, please him, divert
him, and, if it be possible, by altering his course of life, to
give him security and satisfaction. If he conceal his griev¬
ances, and will not be known of them, b they must observe, by
Ms looks, gestures , motions, phantasie, what it is that offends,
and then to apply remedies unto him. Many are instantly
cured when their minds are satisfied. c Alexander makes
mention of a woman, that, by reason off her husbands long
absence in travel, was exceeding peevish and melancholy ; but,
when she heard her husband was returned, beyond all expec¬
tation, at the first sight of him, she was freed from all fear,
without help of any other phy sick restored to her former
health. Trincavelius (consil. 12. lib. 1) hath such a story of
a Venetian, that, being much troubled with melancholy, dand
ready to dye for grief, when he heard his wife was brought to
bed of a son, instantly recovered. As Alexander concludes,
eif our imaginations be not inveterate, by this art they may
he cured, especially if they proceed from such a cause. No
better way to satisfy, than to remove the object, cause, occa¬
sion, if by any art or means possible we may find it out. If
he grieve, stand in fear, be in suspicion, suspettce, or anyway
molested, secure him ; solvitur malum: give him satisfaction ;
the cure is ended : alter his course of life, there needs
aEpist- 10. b Observando motas, gestas, manus, pedes, oculos, phanta-
siam. Piso. cMulier, melancholia correpta ex longa.viri peregrinatione, et
iracnnde omnibus respondens, qnnm maritus domain reversas p raster- speni, &c.
a firs dolore moriturus, quum rrantiatum esset nsorem peperisse filitniu subito recu-
peravit. e Nisi affectns longo tempore infestaverit. tali artificio imaginationes
enrare portet, praesertim nbi malum ab his3 velut a primaria oaussa, occasionem ha-
buerit ' -
444
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
no other physick. If the party be sad, or otherwise affected,
consider (saith Trallianus) a the manner of it, all circumstances,
and forthwith make a sudden alteration, by removing the
occasions; avoid all terrible objects, heard or -.seen, b mon¬
strous and prodigious aspects, tales of devils, spirits, ghosts,
tragicall stories: to such as are in fear, they strike a great im¬
pression, renew many times, and recal such chimeras and ter¬
rible fictions into their minds. cMake not so much as men¬
tion of them in private talk, or a dumb shew tending to that
purpose: such things (saith Galateus) are offensive to their
imaginations . And to those that are now in sorrow, dSeneca
forbids all sad companions, and such as lament: a groaning
companion is an enemy to quietness. e Or if there be any such
party, at whose present the patient is not wellpleased, he must
be removed: gentle speeches and fair means must first be tryed;
no harsh language used, or uncomfortable words ; not expel, .
as some do, one madness with another ; he that so doth is
madder than the patient himself ; all things must be quietly
composed ; ever sa non evertenda , sed erigenda, things down
must not be dejected, but reared, as Crato eounselleth : {he
must be quietly and gently used; and we should not do any
thing against his mind, but by little and little effect it. As an
horse that starts at a drum or trumpet, and will not endure
the shooting of a piece, may be so manned by art, and ani¬
mated, that he can not only endure, but is much more ge¬
nerous at the hearing of such things, much more contagions
than before, and much delighteth in it ; they must not be re¬
formed ex abrupto, but, by all art and insinuation, made to
sucb companies, aspects, obj ects, they could not formerly away
with. Many at first cannot endure the sight of a green
wound, a sick man, which afterward, become good chyrurgi-
ans, bold empericks. A horse starts at. a rotten post afar off,
which, coming near, he quietly passeth. ’Tis much in the
manner of making such hind of persons : be they never so
a verse from company, bashful, solitary, timorous, they may be
made at last, with those Roman matrons, to desire nothing
more than, in a publike shew, to see a full company of gladi¬
ators breath out their last.
aLib. 1. cap. 16. SI ex tristitia aut alio affectu coeperit, speciem considera antaliud
quid eorum, qua subitam alterationem facere possunt. bEvitandi monstrifici
aspectus, &c. cNeque enim tam actio aut recordatio rerum hujusmodi
displicet, sed iis vel gestus alterius imaginationi adumbrare, vehementer molestum.
Galat. de mor. cap. 7. d Tranquil. Praecipue vitentur tristes, et omnia depjo-
rantes: tranquillitati inimicus est comes perturbatus, omnia gemens. efflorum
quoque hominum, a quorum consortio abhorrent, prcesentia amovenda, nec sermonibps
ingratis obtundendi. Si quis insaniam ab insania sic curari sestimat, et protervejtitur,
magis quam seger insanit. Crato, consil. 184. Scoltzii. fMoIliter.ae
snaviter seger tractetur, nec ad ea adigatur qua non curat.
445
Mem. 6. Subs. 2.] Mind rectified.
If they may not otherwise be accustomed to brook such dis-
tastful and displeasing objects, the best way then is generally to
avoid them. Montanus, consil. 229, to the earl of Montfort a
courtier, and his melancholy patient, adviseth him to leave the
court, by reason of those continual discontents, crosses, abuses,
a cares, suspicions, emulations, ambition, anger , jealousie, which
that place afforded , and which surely caused him to be so me¬
lancholy at the first :
Maxima quseque domus servis est plena superbis :
a company of scoffers and proud Jacks, are commonly conver¬
sant and attendant in such places, and able to make any man
that is of a soft quiet disposition (as many* times they do), ex
stulto insanum, if once they humor him, a very idiot, or
starke mad : a thing too much practised in all common so¬
cieties ; and they have no better sport than to make them¬
selves merry by abusing some silly fellow, or take advantage of
another mans weaknes. In such cases, as in a plague, the best
remedy is cito, longe, tarde, (for to such a party, especially if
lie be apprehensive, there can be no greater misery) to get him
quickly gone far enough off, and not to be over-hasty in his
return. If he be so stupid, that he do not apprehend it, his
friends should take some order, and by their discretion supply
that which is wanting in him, as in all other cases they ought
to do. If they see a man melancholy given, solitary, averse
from company, please himself with such private and vain me¬
ditations, though he delight in it, they ought by all means to
seek to divert him, to dehort him, to tell him of the event and
danger that may come of it. If they see a man idle, that, by
reason of his means otherwise, will betake himself to no course
of life, they ought seriously to admonish him, he makes a
noose to intangle himself, his want of imployment will be his
undoing. If he have sustained any great losse, suffered a re¬
pulse, disgrace, &c. if it be possible, relieve him. If he desire
ought, let him be satisfied: if in suspence, fear, suspicion,
let him be secured : and if it may conveniently be, give him
his hearts content; for the body cannot be cured till the
mind be satisfied. l> Socrates, in Plato, would prescribe no
physick for Charmides head-ach, till first he had eased his
troublesome mind; body and soul must he cured together, as
head and eyes.
v c Oculum non curabis sine toto capite,
Nec caput sine toto corpore.
Nee totum corpus sine amnia.
3 Ob sospicienes, curas, semolatiouem/ambitioneni, iras, &c, cjuas locos ille minis,
trat, et qose fecissent melancbolicom- . '“ Nisi prius^fnimom taxbatissimum
curasset nec ocoii sine capite, nec corpus sine anima corari potest. c E
Graeco.
446
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
If that may not be hoped or expected, yet ease him with com¬
fort, chearful speech es, fair promises, and good words ; perswade
him ; advise, him. Many , saith a Galen, have been cured by
good counsel and perswasioh alone. Heaviness of the heart of
man doth bring it down; but a good word rejoiceth it (Prov.
12. 25) ; and there is he that speaketh words like the pricking
of a sword; but the tongue of a wise man is health (ver. IS) :
oratio namque saucii animi est remedium ; a gentle speech is
the true cure of a wounded soul, as b Plutarch contends out
of JEschylus and Euripides : if it be wisely administred, it
easeth grief and pain, as divers remedies do many other
diseases; ’tis incantgtionis instar, a charm, cestuantis animi re-
frigerium, that true nepenthes of Homer, which was no Indian
plant or fained medicine, which Epidamna, Thonis wife, sent
Helena for a token, as Macrobius, 7. Saturnal. Goropius,
Hermet. lib. 9. Greg. Nanzianzen, and others, suppose but op¬
portunity ofspeech : for Helenas boule, Medeas unction, Venus
girdle, Circes cup, cannot so inehant, so forcibly move or
alter, as it doth. A letter sent or read will do as much ; mul-
tum allevor, quum tuas literas lego; lam much eased, as cTuIly
writ to Pomponius Atticus, when I read thy letters; and as
Julianus the Apostate once signified to Maximus the philo¬
sopher— -As Alexander slept with Homers works, so do I with
thine epistles, tanquam Pceoniis medicamentis, easque assidue
tanquam recentes et novas iteramus: scribe ergo , et assidue
scribe; or else come thy self: amicus ad amicum venies .
Assuredly a wise and well spoken man may do what he will
in such a case: agood orator alone, as dTul!y holds, can alter
affections by power of his eloquence, comfort such as are af¬
flicted, erect such as are depressed, expel and mitigate fear, lust,
anger, frc. and how powerful is the charm of a discreet and
dear friend!
Ille regit dictis animos, et temperat iras.
What may not he effect? as e Chromes told Menedemus,
Fear not ; conceal it not, O friend: but tell me what it is that
troubles thee; and I shall surely help thee by comfort, counsel ,
or in the matter it self . f Arnoldus (lib. 1. breviar. cap. 18)
speaks of an usurer in his time, that, upon a loss much me¬
lancholy and discontent, was so cured. As imagination, fear,
grief, cause such passions, so conceits alone, rectified by
a Et nos non'paucos sanavimns, animi motibus ad debitum revocatis. lib. 1. de sanif.
tuend. b Consol, ad Apollonium. Si qnis sapienter et sno tempore
adhibeat, remedia morbis diversis diversa sunt : dolentem sermo benignns sublevat
c_Lib. 12. Epist _ d De nat. Deornm. Consolatur afflictos ; deducit perterritos a
timore ; cupiditates imprimis, et iracnndias, comprimit. e Heaaton. Act. 1.
Seen. 1. Jse metne; neverere; crede, inqaam/mihi ; aut consolando, aat consilio,
apt re, juvero. fNovi foeneratorem a varum apud meos sic curatum, qui multara
pecttniam amiserat. 1
447
Mem. 6. Subs. 2.] Mind rectified.
good hope, counsel, &c. are able again, to help : and ’tis in¬
credible how much they can do in such a case, as aTrinca-
velius illustrates by an example of a patient of his. Porphy¬
rins the philosopher (in Plotinus life, written by him) relates,
that, being in a discontented humor through unsufferable
anguish of mind, he was going to make away himself: but,
meeting by chance his master Plotinus, who perceiving by
his distracted looks all was not well, urged him to confess his
grief; which when lie had heard, he used such comfortable
speeches, that he redeemed him efaucibus Erebi, pacified his
unquiet mind, insomuch that he was easily reconciled to him¬
self, and much abashed to think afterwards that he should ever
entertain so vile a motion. By all means, therefore, fair pro¬
mises, good words, gentle perswasions, are to be used, not to
be too rigorous at first, hor to insult over them, not to deride ,
neglect, or contemn, but rather, as Lemnius exorteth, to pity,
and by all plausible means to seek to reduce them : but if satis¬
faction may not be had, mild courses, promises, comfortable
speeches, and good counsel will not take place; then, as Chris-
topherus a Vega determines, lib. 3. cap. 14. de Mel. to handle
them more roughly, to threaten and chide, saith cAltomarus,
terrifie sometimes, or, as Salvianus will have them, to be lashed
and whipped, as we do by a starting horse, dthat is affrighted
without a cause, or, as eRhasis adviseth, one while to speak
fair, and flatter, another while to terrifie and chide , as they
shall see cause.
When none of these precedent remedies will avail, it will
not be amiss, which Savanarola and iElian Montaltus so
much commend, clavum clavo pellet e, f to drive out one pas¬
sion with another, or by some contrary passion , as they do
bleeding at nose by letting blood in the arm, to expel one fear
with another, one grief with another. § Christopherus a Vega
accounts it rational physick, non alienum . a ratione: and
Lemnius much approves it, to me an hard wedge to an hard
knot, to drive out one disease with another, to pull out a
tooth, or wound him, to geld him, h saith Platerus, as they
did epileptical patients of old, because it quite alters the tem¬
perature, that the pain of the one may mitigate the grief of
r a Lib. 1. consil._12. Tncredibile dicta quantum juvent. bNemo istiusmodi
condition's hominibus insultet, aut in illos sit severicr; verum misense potius indo-
lescat, vicemque deploret. lib 2. cap. 16. cCap. 7. Idem Piso Laurentius,
cap. 8. d Quod timet nihil est, nbi cogitnr et videt. eUna vice
blandiantur, una vice iisdem terrorem incutiant. f Si vero fuerit ex novo malo
anditOj vel ex animi accidente, ant de amissione mercinm, ant morte amici, introdncan-
tnr nova contraria his, quae ipsum ad gandia moveant ; de hoc semper niti debemns,
&c. S Lib. 3. cap. 14. ; h Cap. 3. Castratio olim a veteribus nsa in morbis
dssperatis, &c.
418 Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2
the other; a and I knew one that was so cured of a quartan ague ,
by the sudden coming of his enemies upon him. If we may be¬
lieve bPliny, whom Scaiiger cals mendaciorumpatrem,the father
of lies, Q. Fabius Maximus, that renowned consul of Rome, in a
battle fought with the king of the Allobroges at the river Isau-
rus, was so rid of a quartan ague. Valesius, in his contro¬
versies, holds this an excellentTemedy, and, if it be discreetly
used in this malady, better than physick.
Sometimes again, by some cfainedlye, strange newes, witty
device, artificial invention, it is not amiss to deceive them.
dAs they hate those , saith Alexander, that neglect or deride,
so they will give ear to Such as will sooth them up. If they
say they have swallowed froggs, or a snake, by all means
grant it, and tell them you can easily cure it: ’tis an ordinary
thing. Philodotus the physician cured a melancholy king,
that thought his head was off, by putting a leaden cap thereon ;
the weight made him perceive it, and freed him of his fond
imagination. A woman, in the said Alexander, swallowed a
serpent, as she thought : he gave her a vomit, and conveyed a
serpent, such as she conceived, into the bason ; upon the sight
of it, she was amended. The pleasantest dotage that ever I
read, saith eLaurentius, was of a gentleman at Senes in Italy,
who was afraid to piss, lest all the town should be drowned ;
the physicians caused the bells to be rung backward, and told
him the town was on fire ; whereupon he made water, and was
immediately cured. Another supposed his nose so big that he
should dash it against the wall, if he stirred; his physician took
a great piece of flesh, and holding it in his hand, pinched him
by the nose, making him beleeve that flesh was cut from it.
FonestUs lobs. lib. 1) had a melancholy patient, who thought
he was dead: f he put a fellow in a chest , liken dead man , by
his beds side, and made him reare himself a little , and eat : the
melancholy man asked the counterfeit, whether dead men use to
eat meat? he told him yea ; whereupon he did eat likewise,
and was cured. Lemnius {lib. 2. cap. 6. de 4. complex.) hath
many such instances, and Jovianus Pontanus (lib. 4. cap. °2. of
Wisd.) of the like: but amongst the rest I find one most me¬
morable, registred in the § French Chronicles, of an advocate
aLifa. 1. cap. 5. Sic morbum morbo, ut clavum clavp, retundimus, et malo coda
malum cuneum adhibemas. Novi ego qui ex subito hostium incursu, et inopinato
timore, quartanam depulerat. b Lib. 7. cap. 50. In acie pugnans febre quartana
liberates est. . c Jacchinus, c. 15, in 9-Rhasis. Mont. cap. 26. <1 Lib. cap. 16.
Aversantur eos qui eorum affecfas rident, conteinmmt. Si ranas et viperas comedisse
se putant, concedere debemus, et spem de cura facere. eCap. 8. de mel.
f Cistam posuit ex medicorum consUio prope cum, in quein alium se mortuum .fingen-
tem posuit j hie in cista jacens, &c. £ Serres, 1550. .
449 .
Meat. S. Subs. 3.] Perturbation rectified.
of Paris before mentioned, who beleeved verily he was dead,
&e. I read a multitude of examples, of melancholy men cured
by such artificial inventions.
SUBSECT. III.
Mustek a remedy.
Many and sundry are the means which philosophers and
physicians have prescribed to exhilarate a sorrowful heart, to
divert those fixed and intent cares and meditations, which
in this malady so much offend; but, in my judgement, none
so present, none so powerful!, none so apposite, as a cup of
strong drink, mirth, musick, and merry company . Eeclus.
40. 20. Wine and musick rejoy ce the heart. aRhasis cent. 9.
Tract , 15), Altomarus (cap. 7), iElianus Montaltus (c. 28),
Ficinus, Bened. Victor. Faventinus, are almost immoderate in
the commendation of it; a most forcible medicine b Jacehinus
calls it: Jason Pratensis, a most admirable thing , and worthy
of consideration , that can so mo life the mind, and stay
those tempestuous affections of it . Musica est mentis medi-
cina mcestee, a roaring-meg against melancholy, to rear and
revive the languishing soul ; c affecting not onely the ears but
the very arteries , the vital and animal spirits, it erects the
minde and makes it nimble. Lemnius, instit. cap. 24. This
it will effect in the most dull, severe, and sorrowful souls,
d expell griefe with mirth ; xmd, if there bee any ctoudes, dust,
or dregges of cares yet lurking in our thoughts, most power¬
fully it wipes them all away, (Salisbur. polit. lib. 1. cap. 6) ;
and that which is more, it will perform all this in an instant —
echear up the countenance , expell austerity, bring in hilarity
(Girald. Camb. cap. 12. Topogr. Uiber.) informe our manners ,
mitigate anger. Atbenseus (Dipnosophist. lib. 14. cap. 10)
calletb it an infinite treasure to such as are endowed with it.
Dulcis&num reficit tristia cord a inelos. (Eobanus Hessus)
Many other properties f Cassiodorus ( epist . 4) reckons up of
this our divine musick, not only to expel the greatest .griefs,
but it doth extenuate fears and furies, appeaseih cruelty ,
a In 9Rhasis. Magnam vim habet musica. b Cap. de Mania. Admiranda pro-
fecto res est, et digna expensione, quod sonorum concinnitas mentem emolliat, sistatque
procellosas ipsins affectiones. cLangnens animus inde erigitnr et reviviscit ;
nec tam anres afficit, sed et sonitmper arterias cndiqne difibso, spiritusinm vitales turn
animates excitat, mentem.reddens agilem, &c. d Mnslca venustate sna mentes
severiaces capitj &c. eAnimos tristes subito exbilarat, nubilos -vidtus serenat,
ansteritatem reponit, jncunditatemex-ponit, barbariemque facit deponere gentes, mores
instifnit, iracuodiam mitigat. g Cithara tristitiam jaenndat, tumidos -furores
attenuat, ernentam ssevitiam blande reficit, languorem, &c. - b
450
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2,
abaieth heaviness ; and, to such as are watchfull, it causeth
quiet rest ; it takes away spleen and hatred, bee it instru¬
mental, vocall, with strings, winde, *quce a spiritu , sine ma-
nuum dexteritate, gubernetur, Sfc. it cures all irksomeness and
heaviness of the soul. 6 Labouring men, that sing to their
work, can tell as much ; and so can souldiers when they go to
fight, whom terror of death cannot so much affright, as the
sound of trumpet, drum, fife, and such like musick, animates;
metus enim mortis , as cCensorinus enformeth ws,musicadepel-
litur. It makes a childequiet, the nurses song ; and many
times the sound of a trumpet on, a sudden, bells ringing, a
carrmans whistle, a boy singing some ballad tune early in the
street, alters, revives, recreates a restless patient that cannot
sleep in the night, &c. In a word, it is so powerful a thing
that it ravisetn the soul, regina sensuum, the queen of the
senses, by sweetpleasure (which is an happy cure) ; and corpo¬
ral 1 tunes pacifie our incorporeall soul : sine ore loquens,domi -
ngtum in animam exercet, and carries it beyond it self, helps,
elevates, extends it. Scaliger {exercit. 302) gives a reason of
these effects, d because the spirits about the heart take in that
trembling and dancing air into the body,, are moved together ,
and stirred up with it, or else the minde, as some suppose, har¬
monically composed, is roused up at the tunes of> musick.
And *tis not onely men that are so affected, but almost all
other creatures. You know the tale of Hercules, Gallus,
Orpheus, and Amphion, (felices animasOvid cals them) that
could saxa mover e sono testudinis, &c. make stocks and stones,
as well as beasts, and other animals, dance after their pipes :
the dog and hare, wolf and lamb,
(Vicinumque lupo prscbuit agna latus)
clamosus graculus, stridula cornix , et Jovis aquila, asPhilo-
stratus describes it in his images, stood all gaping upon Or¬
pheus; and e trees, pulled up by the roots, came to hear him;
Et comitem quercum pinus arnica trahit.
Arion made fish follow him, which, as common experience
evinceth, fare much affected with musick. All singingbirds
are much pleased with it, especially nightingales, if we may
beleeve Calcagninus ; and bees among the rest, though they be
flying away, when they hear any tingling sound, will tarry be-
hinde. g Harts, hindes, horses, dogs , bears, are exceedingly
aPet. Aretine. . , bCastilio, de aulic. lib. 1. fol. 27.1 cLib. de Natali,
cap. 12. <*Quod spiritus, qui in corde agitant, tremulum et subsaltantem recipiunt
aerem in pectus, et inae excitantur, a spiritu musculi moventur, &c. e Arbores
radicibus avulsas, &c. f M. Carew of Anthony, in descript. Cornwal, saith of
whales, that they will come and shew themselves dancing at the sound of a trumpet,
fol. 35. 1. et fol. 154. 2. book.- sDe cervo, equo, cane, urso, idem com-
pertum ; music a afficiuntur.
Mem. 6. Subs. 3.] Perturbation rectified. 451
delighted with it, Seal, exerc. 302. Elephants, Agrippa addes,
lib. 2. cap. 24. and in Lydia in the midst of a lake there be
certain floating ilands, (if ye will beleeveit) that, after musick,
will dance.
But to leave all declamatory speeches in praise aof divine
musick, I will confine’ my self' to my proper subject : besides
that excellent power it hath to expell many other diseases, it is
asoyeraigne remedy againstbdespairand melancholy, and wilt
drive away the devil himself. Canus, aRhodian fidler in cPhi-
lostratus, when Apollonius was inquisitive to know what he
could do with his pipe, told him, that he would make a me¬
lancholy man merry , and him that was merry much merrier
than before ; a lover more inamoured, a religious man more de¬
vout. Ismenias the Theban, d Chiron the Centaure, is said to
have cured this and many other diseases by musick alone': as
now they do those, saith eBodine, that are troubled with S.
Vitus Bedlam dance. f Timotheus the musician compelled
Alexander to skip up and down, and leave liis dinner (like the
tale of the frier and the boy) ; whom Austin (de civ. Pei,
lib. ly. cap. 14.) so much commends for it. Who hath not
heard how Davids harmony drove away the evill spirits from
king Saul? (I Sam. 16) and Elisha, when he was much troubled
by importunate kings, called for a minstrel ; and , when he
played, the hand of theLordcame upon him (2 Kings, 3) . Ceii-
sorinus ( denatali , cap: 12) reports how Aselepiades the physi¬
cian helped many frantike persons by this means, phreneticoruni
mentes morbo turbatas. — Jason Pratensis {cap. de Mania) hath
many examples, how Clinias and Empedocles cured some
desperately melancholy, and some mad, by this our musick;
which because it hath such excellent vertues, belike, § Homer
brings in Phemius playing, and the Muses singing at the ban¬
quet of the gods. Aristotle, Polit . 1. 8. c. 5, Plato 2, de leg thus,
highly approve it, and so do all politicans. The Greekes,
Romanes, have graced musick, and made it one of the liberalt
sciences, though it be now become mercenary. All civill com¬
monwealths allow it: Cneius Manlius (as hLivius relates) A6
db urb. cond. 567, brought first out of Asia to Rome singing
wenches, players, j esters, and all kinde of musick to their feasts.
51 Numen inest nnmeris. *> Saepe graves morbos modulation carmen abegit,
Et desperatis conciliavit opem. ~ Lib. 5. cap. 7. Mcerentibas mcerorem adimam,
Isetantem vero seipso reddam bilariorem, amantem calidiorem, religiosum divino numine
correptum, et ad Deos colendos paratiorem. a Natalis Comes, Myth. lib. 4.
cap. 12. « Lib. 5. de rep. Carat musica fnrorem Saiscti Viti. f Exsilire'
e convivio. Cardan, subtil, lib. 13. S Iliad 1. h Libro 9. cap. 1. Psaitrias,
sambucistriasque, et convivialia ladorum/jblectamenta addita epnlis; ex Asia invexit in
nrbem.
452
Sure of Melancholy. [Part, 2. Sec. 2.
Your princes, emperours, and persons of any quality, main¬
tain it in their courts: no mirth without musick. Sr Thomas
Moore in his absolute Utopian common-wealth, allowes musick
as an appendix to every meal, and that throughout, to all
sorts. Epictetus cals mensam mutamprcesepe, a table without
musick a manger ; for the concent of musicians at a banquet is
a carbuncle set in gold; and as the signet of an emerald well
trimmed with gold, so is the melody of musick in a pleasant
banquet. Ecclus. 32, v. 5. 6. a Lewes the eleventh, when he
invited Edward the fourth to come to Paris, told him, that, as a
principall part of his entertainment, he should hear sweet voices
of children, Tonicke and Lydian tunes, exquisite musick, he
should have a . », and the Gardinall of Burbon to be his
confessor; which hewsedas a most plausible argument, as to a
sensuall man indeed it is. bLucian, in his book desaltatione
is not ashamed to confess that he took infinite delight in sing¬
ing, dancing, musick, womens company, and such like plea¬
sures; and if thou (saith he) didst but hear them play and
dance, I know thou wouldst be so well pleased with the object,
that thou wouldst dance for company thyself: without doubt
thou wilt bee taken with it : ’So Scaliger ingenuously cbn-
fesseth, exercit. 274. CI am beyond all measure affected with
musick ; I do most willingly behold them dance ; I am mightily
detained and allured with that grace and comeliness of fair
women ; I am well pleased to bee idle amongst them. And
what young man is not ? As it is acceptable and conducing
to most, so especially to a melancholy man ; provided alwaies,
his disease proceed not originally from it, that he bee not some
light inamorato, some idle phantastick,who capers in conceit
all the day long, and thinks of nothing else, but how to make
jigs, sonnets, madrigals, in commendation of his mistress.
In such cases, musick is most pernicious, as a spur to a free
horse will make him run himself blinde, or break his wind ;
incitamentum enim amoris musica ; for musick enchants, as
Menander holds; it will make such melancholy persons mad;
and the sound of those jigs and horn-pipes will not bee
removed out of the ears a week after. d Plato, for this rea¬
son, forbids musmk and wine to all young men, because they
are most part amorous, ne ignis addatur igni, lest one fire
increase another. Many men are melancholy by hearing
musick ; but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth ; and
a Ccmmineus. Ista Iibenter et magna cum volnptate spectare soleo. Et
scio te illecebris hisce captumriri, et insnper tripndiaturam : haud°dubie demnlcebere,
c la masicis snpra omnem fidem capior et oblector; choreas libentissime aspicio ; pnl-
cbrarum feioinarum venustate detineor: otiari inter has solutns curis possum. d3De
legibus.
453
Mena. 6. Sabs. 4.] Perturbation rectified.
therefore, to such as are discontent, in wo, fear, sorrow, or
dejected, it is a most present remedy : it expels cares, alters
their grieved minds, and easeth in an instant. Otherwise,
saith a Plutarch, musica magis dementat quam vinum : nrasick
makes some men mad asatygre; like Astolphos horn in
Ariosto, or Mercuries golden wand in Homer, that made some
wake, others sleep, it hath divers effects : and bTheophrastus
right well prophesied, that diseases were either procured by
mttsick, or mitigated.
SUBSECT. IV.
Mirth and merry company , fair objects , remedies.
Mirth and merry company may not be separated from
musick, both concerning and necessarily required in this busi¬
ness. Mirth (saith cVives )purgeth the blood , confirmes health,
causeth afresh, pleasing, and fine colour, prorogues life, whets
the wit, makes the body young, lively, and fit for any manner
of imployment. The merrier heart, the longer life: a merry
heart is the life of the flesh (Prov. 14. 20) ; Gladness prolongs
his dayes (Ecclus. 30. 22) ; and this is one of the three Saler¬
nitan doctors, D. Merryman, D. Diet, and D. Quiet, d which
cure all diseases — - Mens hilaris, requies, moderata diceta.
eGomesius (prof at. lib. 3. de sal. gen.) is a great magnify er of
honest mirth, by which (saith he) we cure many passions of the
minde inour selves, and in our friends : which f Galateus assignes
for a cause why we love merry companions: and well they de¬
serve it, being that (as sMaguinus holds) a merry companion is
better than musick, and, as the saying is, comes jucundus in via
pro vehiculo, as a wagon to him that is wearied on the way.
Jucundaconfabulatio , sales, joci, pleasant discourse, jests, con¬
ceits, merry tales, mellitiverborumglobuli, (as Petronius, hPliny,
1 Spondanus, kCaelius, and many good authors plead) are that
sole nepenthes of Homer, Helenas boule, Venus girdle, sore-
a Sympos. qnsest. 5. Musica multos magis dementat quam vinum. b Animi
mor'oi vel a musica curantur vel inferuntur. c Lib. 3. de anima. Lsetitia pnrgat
sanguinem, valetudinem conservat, colorem inducit florentem, nitidum, gratum.
<1 Spiritas temperat, calorem excitat, naturalem virtutem corroborat, juvenile corpus din
servat, vitam prorogat, ingenium acuit, et liominem negotiis quibuslibet aptiorem
ieddit. Schola Salern. • e Dam contumelia vacant, et festiva lenitate mordent,
mediocres animi mgritudines sanare solent, &c. f De mor. foL 57. Amamns ideo
eos qui sunt faceti et jncundi. % Regim. sanit. part 2. Nota quod
amicus bonus et dilectus socius narrationibus suis jucundis superat omnem melodiam.
h Lib. 21. cap. 27. ' Comment, in 4. Odyss. k Lib. 26. c. 15.
454
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
Downed of old ato expell grief and care, to cause mirth and
gladness of heart, if they be rightly understood, or seasonably
applied. In a word,
6 Amor, voluptas, Venus, gaudium,
Jocus, ludus, sermo suavis, suaviatio,
are the true nepenthes. For these causes our physicians gene¬
rally prescribe this as a principal engine, to batter the walls of
melancholy, a chief antidote, and a sufficient cure of it self.
By all means (saith c Mesue) procure mirth to these men , in
such things as are heard, seen , tasted, or smelled, or any way
perceived ; and let them have all enticements , and fair pro¬
mises , the sight of excellent beauties, attires , ornaments, de¬
lightsome passages, to distract their minds from fear and
sorrow, and such things on which they are so fixed and intent.
A Let them use hunting , sports, playes, jests , merry company,
as Fhasis prescribes, which will not let the minde be molested,
a cup of good dr inke now and then, hear musick, and have
such companions with whom they are especially delighted,
e merry tales or toyes, drinking, singing, dancing, and whatso¬
ever else may procure mirth : and by no means, saith Guiane-
rius, suffer them to be alone. Benedictus VictoriusFaventinus,
in his Empericks, accompts it an especial remedy against me¬
lancholy, f to hear and see singing, dancing, maskers , num -
mers, to converse with such merry fellows, and fair maids.
For the beauty of a woman cheareth the countenance, Ecclus.
36.22. s Beauty alone is a so veraign remed y against fear, grief,
and all melancholy fits; a charm, as Peter de la Seine and many
other writers affirme, a banquet it self ; he gives instance in
discontented Menelaus that was so often freed by Helenas
fair face: andhTully (3 Tusc.) cites Epicurus as a chief patron
of this tenent. To expell grief, and procure pleasance, sweet
smells, good diet, touch, taste, embracing, singing, dancing,
sports, playes, and, above the rest, exquisite beauties, quibus
oculi jucunde moventur et ariimi , are most powerful means ;
a Homericum illad nepenthes, quod moerorem tollit, et euthymiam et hilarifatem
parit. b Plaut Bacch. e De asgritud. capitis. Omni modo generet laefi-
tiam in iis, de iis qu® audiuntur et videntur, aut odorantur, aut gustantur, aut quocunque
modo sentiri possunt, et aspectu formarum multi decoris et ornatus, et negotiatione
jucunda, et blandientibus ludis, et promissis distrahantur eorum animi de re aliqua
quam timent et dolent. <lUtantur venationibus, ludis, jocis, amicorum
consortiis, qu® non sinunt animrnn tnrbari, vino, et cantu, etloci mutatione, etbiberia,
et gaudio, et quibus pr®cipue delectantur. , « Piso : fabulis et ludis quasrenda
delectatio. His verseturqui maxime grati sunt : cantus et chorea ad tetitiam prosun t.
fPr®cipue valet ad expeliendam melancholiam stare in cantibus, ludis, et sonis, et
habitare cum familiaribus, et praecipne cum pnellis jucundis. s Par. 5.
de avocamentis. lib. de absolvendo luctu. l> Corporum complexus, cantus,
ludi, form®, &c.
455
Mem. 6. Subs. 4] Mind rectified by Mirth.
obvia forma, to meet, or see a fair maid pass by, or to be in
company with her. He found it by experience, and made good
use of it in his own person, if Plutarch bely him not ; for he
reckons up the names of some more elegant pieces, a Leontia,
Boedina, Hedieia, Nicedia, that were frequently seen in Epi¬
curus garden, and very familiar in his house. Neither did he
try it himself alone ; buiifweinay give creditto b Athenaeus, he
practised it upon others: For, when a sad and sick patient
was brought unto him to be cured, he laid him on a down bed,
crowned him with a garland of sweet-smelling flowers , in a
fair perfumed closet delicately set out ; and after a potion
or two of good drink which he administered, he brought in a
beautiful yong c wench that could play upon volute, sing and,
dance , $*e. Tully (3 Tusc.) scoffes at Epicurus for this his .
prophane physick (as well he deserved) ; and yet Phavorinus
and Stobaeus highly approve of it. Most of our looser physi¬
cians, in some cases, to such parties especially, allow of this ;
and all of them will have a melancholy, sad, and discontented
person, make frequent use of honest sports, companies, and re¬
creations, et incitandos ad Venerem (as d Rodericus a Fonseca
will) aspectu et contactu pulcherrimarum feminarum ; to be
drawn to such consorts, whether they will or no ; not to be an
auditor only, or a spectator, but sometimes an actor himself.
Dulce est desipere in loco / to play the fool now and then,
is not amiss; there is a time for all things. Grave Socrates
would be merry by fits, sing, dance, and take his liquor too,
or else Theodoret belies him; -so would old Cato; e Tully by
his own confession, and the rest. Xenophon, in his Sympos,
brings in Socrates as a principal actor ; no man merrier then
himself; and sometimes he would lride a cock horse with Ms
children,
- equitare in arundine longa
(though Alcibiades scoffed at him for it) ; and well he might ;
for now and then (saith Plutarch) the most vertuous, honest,
and gravest men will use feasts, jests, and toys, as we do sauce
to our meats. So did Scipio and Laslius,
s Quin, ubi se, a vulgo et scena, in secreta remorant
Virtus Scipiadsa et mitis sapientia Laeli,
* Circa hortos’ Epienri freqaentes. b Dynosopb. lib. 10. Coronavit flbrido
serto incendens odores, in culcita plmnea collocavit, dolcicnlain potionem propinans
psaltriam addnrit. Sec. c Ut reclinata snaviter in lectum paella, &c. Tom. 2.
consult. 85. eEpist fam. lib. 7. 22. epist. Heri donram, bene potns, seroque
redieram. f Yaler.Max. cap. 8. Kb. 8. Interposita arnndme ernribns snis, cam
filiis ludens, ab Alcibiade risns est. ~ s Hor.
VOL. I.
P P
456
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. See. 2
Nugari cum illo, et discincti ludere, donee
Decoqueretur olus, soliti -
Valorous Scipio and gentle Lselius,
Removed from the scene and rout so clamorous,
Were wont to recreate themselves, their robes laid by,
Whilst supper by the cook was making ready.
Machiavel, in the 8 book of his Florentine history, gives this
note of Cosmus Medices, the wisest and gravest man of his
time in Italy, that he would a now and then play the most
egregious fool in his carriage, and was so much given to
jesters, players, and childish sports , to make himself merry,
that he that should hut consider his gravity on the one part ,
his folly and lightness on the other , would surely say, there
were two distinct persons in him. Now, me thinks he did
well in it, though b Salisburiensis be of opinion that magi¬
strates, senators, and grave men, should not descend to lighter
sports, ne respublica ludere videatur ; but, as Themistocles,
still keep a stern and constant carriage. I commend Cosmus
Medices, and Castruccius Castrucanus, then whom Italy never
knew a worthier captain, another Alexander, if c Machiavel do
not decieve us in his life : when a friend of his reprehended
him for dancing beside his dignity (belike at some cushen
dance) he told him again, qui sapit inter diu, vix unquam noctu
desipit; he that is wise in the day, may dote a little in the night.
Pauius Jovius relates as much of Pope Leo Decimus, that he
was a grave, discreet, stay’d man, yet sometimes most free,
and too open in his sports. And ’tis not altogether d unfit or
mis-beseeming the gravity of such a man, if that decorum of
time, place, and such circumstances* be observed. e Misce
stultitiam consilis brevem ; and, as f he said in an epigram to
his wife, I would have every man say to himself, or to his
friend,
Moll, once in pleasant company, by chance
I wisht that you for company would dance :
Which you refus’d, and said, your years require.
Now, matron-like, both manners and attire.
Well, Moll, if needs you will be matron-like,
Then trust to this, I will thee matron like :
aHominibns facetis et lndis puerilibus, ultra modum deditus, adeo utsicut in eo tam
gravitatem quam levitatem considerare liberet, duas personas distinetas in eo esse
diceret. b De nugis curial. lib. 1. cap. 4. Magistrates et viri graves a ludis
levioribus arcendi. c Machiavel. vita ejus. Ab amico reprehensus, quod prseter
dignitatem tripudiis operam daret, respondet, &c. d There is a time for all
things, to weep, laugh, mourn, dance. Eccles. 3. 4. e Hor. fSir John
Harrington, Epigr
457
Mem. 6. Subs. 4.] Mind rectified by Mirth.
Yet so to you my love may never lessen.
As you, for church, house, bed observe this lesson :
Sit in the church as solemn as a saint ;
No deed, word, thought, your due devotion taint:
Vaile, if you will, your head; your soul reveal
To him that only wounded soules can heal.
Be in my house as busie as a bee,
Having a sting for every one but me ;
Buzzing in every corner, gath’ring hony :
Let nothing waste, that costs or yieldeth moriy.
a And when thou seest my heart to mirth incline,
Thy tongue, wit, blood, warm with good clieere and wine :
Then of sweet sports let no occasion scape,
But be as wanton, toying, as an ape.
Those ol d b Greeks had their Lubentiam Deam, goddess of Plea-
sanee.nnd the Lacedaemonians, instructed from Lycurgus, did
Deo Risui sacrificare, after their wars especially, and in times
of peace which was used in Thessaly, as it appears by that
of c Apuleius, who was made an instrument of their laughter
himself ; d because laughter and merriment was to season their
labours and modester life .
e Risus enim Divdm atque hominum est seterna voluptas.
Princes use jesters, players, and have those masters of revels
in their courts. The Romans, at every supper, (for they had
no solemn dinner) used musiek, gladiators, jesters, &c. as
f Suetonius relates of Tiberius, Dion of Commodus ; and so
did the Greeks. Besides musiek, in Xenophons Sympos.
Philippus ridendi artifiex, Philip, a jester, was brought to
make sport. Paulus Jovius, in his eleventh book of his
history, hath a pretty digression of our English customes,
which howsoever some may misconster, I, for my part, will in¬
terpret to the best. s The whole nation , beyond all other mortal
men, is most given to banqueting and feasts; for they prolong
them many houres together, with dainty cheere, exquisite
musiek, and facete jesters ; and afterwards they fall a dancing
and courting their mistresses, till it be late in the night.
Vollaterran gives the same testimony of this island, commend¬
ing our jovial manner of entertainment, and good mirth ; and
methinks he saith well; there is no harm in it; long may
they use it, and all such modest sports. Ctesias reports of a
Persian king, that had 150 maids attending at his table, to
a Lncretia toto sis licet usque die, Thaida nocte volo. h Lil. Giraldus, hist.
Deor. syntag. 1. c Lib. 2. de aur. as. d Eo quod risus essel laboris
et modest! victus condirnentum. eCalcag. epig. f Cap. 61. In deliciis
habuit scurras et adulatores. S Uuiversa gens supra mortales casteros convivioruta
studiosissitna. Ea enim per varias et exquisitas dapes, interpositis mnsicis et joculato-
ribus, in multas ssepius horas extraliunt. ac subinde productis choreis et amoribus foemi-
naniffi indulgent, &c.
PP'2
458
Cure of Melancholy. [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
play, sing1, and dance by turns; and aLil. Giraldus of an
Egyptian prince, that kept nine virgins still to wait upon him,
and those of most excellent feature, and sweet voices, which
afterwards gave occasion to the Greeks of that fiction of the
nine muses. The king of Ethiopia in Africk, most of our
Asiatick princes, have done so, and do; those Sophies, Mogors,
Turkes, &c. solace themselves after supper amongst their
queens and concubines , quce, jucundioris oblectamenti caussa
(b saith mine author) coram r eg e psalter eet saltare consueverant ;
taking great pleasure to bear and see them sing and dance.
This and many such means, to exhilarate the heart of men,
have been still practised in all ages, as knowing there is no
better thing to the preservation of mans life. What shall I
say then, hut to every melancholy man,
c Utere convivis non tristibus ; utere amieis ■
Quos nugs et risus etjoca salsa juvant.
Feast often, and use friends not still so sad,
Whose jest and merriments may make thee glad.
Use honest and chast sports, scenical shews, play es, games;
' d Accedant juvenumque ehori, mixtaeque puellse.
And, as MarsiliusFicinus concludes an epistle to Bernard Cani-
sianus and some other of his friends, will I this tractto all good
students; * Live; merrily , O my friends, free from cares, per¬
plexity,. anguish, grief of mind.; live merrily ; Isetitise ccelum
vos ereavif : f again .and again I request you to be merry ; if
any thing trouble your hearts, or vex your souls, neglect and
contemn it ; % let. it passe. h And this I enjoyn you, not as a
divine alone, but as a physician ; for , without this mirth, which
is the life and quintessence of physick, medicines, and whatsoever
is used and applyed to prolong the life of man, is dull, defid,
and of no force. Dura Jala siftMnt., vivite Iceti {Seneca): Isay
be merry :
“Nee lusibus virentem
Viduemus hanc jnventam.
a Syntag. de Musis. b Athensens, lib. 12 et 24. Assiduis inulierum vocibus,
csntuque symphonic palatium Persarum regis totum personabat Jovias, hist. lib. 18.
c Eohanus Hessus. 4 Fracastorius. e Vivite ergo Iseti, O amici ; procnl
ab angastia, vivite Iseti. f Iterum precor et obtestor, vivite laeti : illad, quod
' cor urit, negligife. s Lsetus in prsesens animus quod ultra est oderit curare.
Hor. t> He was both sacerdos et medicus. Hsec autem non tam ui sacerdos, amici,
mando vobis, quam ut medicus'; ram absque hac una tamquam medicinarum vita, me-
dicinfe omnes ad vitam producendam adhibit® morinntur : vivite Iseti. > Looheus.
Anacreon. - ■ • "
459
Mem. 6. Subs. 4.] Mind rectified.
It was Tiresias the prophets counsel to aMenippus, that tra¬
velled all the world over, even down to hell it self, to seek
content, and his last farewell to Menippus, to be merry.
b Contemn the world (saith he) and count all that is in it
vanity and toyes : this only covet all thy life long ; he not
curious, or over solicitous in any thing, hut with a well composed
and contented estate to enjoy thy self and above all things to
he merry.
Si, Miranermus uticenset, sine amore jocisqae
Nil estjucundum, vivas in amore jocisque.
Nothing- better, (to conclude with Solomon Eecies. 3. 22.) then
that a man should rejoyce in his affairs. ’Tis the same advice
which every physician in this case rings to his patient, as cCapi-
vaceius to his : avoid over much study and perturbations of
the minde, and, as much as in thee lies, live at hearts ease :
ProsperCalenus to that melancholy cardinal Ceesius, d amidst
thy serious studies and business, use jests and conceits, playes
and toyes, and whatsoever else may recreate thy mind. No¬
thing better then mirth and merry company in this malady.
* It begins with sorrow (saith Montanus) : it must he expelled
with hilarity.
But see the mischief ; many men, knowing that merry
company is the only medicine against melancholy, will there¬
fore neglect their business, and in another extream, spend all
their dayes among good fellowes in a tavern or an ale-house,
and know not otherwise how to bestow their time but in
drinking ; malt-worms, men-fishes, or water-snakes, f qui
hibunt solum ranarum more, nihil comedentes, like so many
frogs in a puddle. ’Tis their sole exercise to eat and drink $
to sacrifice to Yolupia, Rurnina, Edulica, Potina,' Mellona, is
all their religion. They wish for Philoxenus neck, Jupiters
trinoctium, and that the sun would stand still as in Joshuas
time, to satisfy their lust, that they might dies noctesque per-
grcecari et bihere. Flourishing wits, and men of good parts,
good fashion, and good worth, basely prostitute themselves to
8 Lucian. Necyoinantia. tom. 2. b Omnia mundana nngas asstima. Hoc
solum, tota vita persequere, at, prsesentibus bene compositis, minime curiosus, aut
uila in re solicitus, quam plurimnm potes vitam hilarem tratlucas. c Hildesheim,
spicil. % de Mania iol. 161. Stadia iiterarnm et animi perturbaticnes fugiat, et quantum
potest, jucunde vivat d Lib. de atrabile. Gravioiibus cnris lados et facetias ali-
quando interpone, jocos, et quse solent animum relaxare. e Consil. 30. Mala
valetudo aucta et contracta est tristitia, ac propterea exhilaratieue animi removenda.
f Athen. dipnosoph. lib. 1. —
460
Cure of Melancholy . [Part. 2. Sec. 2.
every rogues company, to take tobacco and drink, to roare
and sing scurrile songs in base places.
a Invenies aliquem cum percussore jacentem,
Permixtum nautis, aut furibus, aut fugitivis :
Which Thomas Erastus objects to Paracelsus, that he would
lye drinking all day long with car-men and tapsters in a
broth el -house, is too frequent amongst us, with men of better
note : like Timocreon of Rhodes, multa hibens, et mulia
vorans , Spc. they drown their wits, seeth their brains in ale,
consume their fortunes, lose their time, weaken their tem¬
perature, contract filthy diseases, rheumes, dropsies, calen¬
tures, tremor, get swoln juglars, pimpled red faces, sore eyes,
&c. heat their livers, alter their complexions, spoil their
stomacks, overthrow their bodies, (for drink drowns more then
the sea and all the rivers that fall into it) — meer funges
and casks- — confound their souls, suppress reason, go from
Scylla to Chary bdis, and use that which is an help, to their
undoing.
b Quid refert, morbo an ferro pereamve ruina ?
c When the blackprince went to set the exil’d king of Castile
into his kingdome, there was a terrible battel fought betwixt
the English and Spanish ; at last the Spanish fled ; the
English followed them to the river side, where some drowned
themselves to avoid their enemies, the rest were killed. Now
tell me what difference is between drowning and killing? As
good be melancholy still as drunken beasts and beggars.
Company, a sole comfort, and an only remedy to all kind of
discontent, is their sole misery and cause of perdition. As
Herraione lamented in Euripides, malce mulieres me fecerunt
malam, evil company marr’d her, may they justly complain,
bad companions have been their bane. For, d malus malum,
vult, ut sit sui similis ; one drunkard in a company, one thief,
one whore master, wil , by his good will, make all the rest as
bad as himself:
- ? et si
Nocturnos jures te formidare vapores,
be of what complexion you will, inclination, love or hate, be
it good or- bad, if you come amongst them, you must do as
aJnven. Sat. 8. b Hor. c Froissard. hist. lib. 1. Hispani, com Anglorum
vires ferre non possent, in fugam se dederunt, &c. Prsscipites in fluvium se dedernnt,
ne in hostium manus venirent. d Ter. e Hor.
Meta. 6. Subs, 4.] Mind rectified. 461
they do ; yea, a though it be to the prejudice of your health,
you must drink venenum pro vino. And so, like grass-hoppers,
whilst they sing over their cups all summer, they starve in
winter ; and for a little vain merriment, shall find a sorrowful
reckoning in the end.